Continent-wide genomic signatures of adaptation to urbanisation in a songbird across Europe

Salmón, P. et al. (2021) Continent-wide genomic signatures of adaptation to urbanisation in a songbird across Europe. Nature Communications, 12, 2983. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23027-w) (PMID:34016968) (PMCID:PMC8137928)

Abstract

Urbanisation is increasing worldwide, and there is now ample evidence of phenotypic changes in wild organisms in response to this novel environment. Yet, the genetic changes and genomic architecture underlying these adaptations are poorly understood. Here, we genotype 192 great tits (Parus major) from nine European cities, each paired with an adjacent rural site, to address this major knowledge gap in our understanding of wildlife urban adaptation. We find that a combination of polygenic allele frequency shifts and recurrent selective sweeps are associated with the adaptation of great tits to urban environments. While haplotypes under selection are rarely shared across urban populations, selective sweeps occur within the same genes, mostly linked to neural function and development. Collectively, we show that urban adaptation in a widespread songbird occurs through unique and shared selective sweeps in a core-set of behaviour-linked genes.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding was provided by the Swedish Research Council C0361301 and Marie Curie Career Integration Grant FP7-CIG ID:322217 (to C.I.), Ministry of Economics and Competiveness (CGL-2016-79568-C3-3-P to J.C.S).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Jacobs, Mr Arne and Dominoni, Dr Davide and Salmon, Dr Pablo and Helm, Dr Barbara
• Authors: Salmón, P., Jacobs, A., Ahrén, D., Biard, C., Dingemanse, N. J., Dominoni, D. M., Helm, B., Lundberg, M., Senar, J. C., Sprau, P., Visser, M. E., and Isaksson, C.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 12: 2983
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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