Person:

Peterson, Brant K.

The identification of precise mutations is required for a complete understanding of the underlying molecular and evolutionary mechanisms driving adaptive phenotypic change. Using plasticine models in the field, we show that the light coat color of deer mice that recently colonized the light-colored soil of the Nebraska Sand Hills provides a strong selective advantage against visually hunting predators. Color variation in an admixed population suggests that this light Sand Hills phenotype is composed of multiple traits. We identified distinct regions within the Agouti locus associated with each color trait and found that only haplotypes associated with light trait values have evidence of selection. Thus, local adaptation is the result of independent selection on many mutations within a single locus, each with a specific effect on an adaptive phenotype, thereby minimizing pleiotropic consequences.

To understand how organisms adapt to novel habitats, which involves both demographic and selective events, we require knowledge of the evolutionary history of populations and also selected alleles. There are still few cases in which the precise mutations (and hence, defined alleles) that contribute to adaptive change have been identified in nature; one exception is the genetic basis of camouflaging pigmentation of oldfield mice (Peromyscus polionotus) that have colonized the sandy dunes of Florida's Gulf Coast. To quantify the genomic impact of colonization as well as the signature of selection, we resequenced 5000 1.5-kb noncoding loci as well as a 160-kb genomic region surrounding the melanocortin-1 receptor (Mc1r), a gene that contributes to pigmentation differences, in beach and mainland populations. Using a genome-wide phylogenetic approach, we recovered a single monophyletic group comprised of beach mice, consistent with a single colonization event of the Gulf Coast. We also found evidence of a severe founder event, estimated to have occurred less than 3000 years ago. In this demographic context, we show that all beach subspecies share a single derived light Mc1r allele, which was likely selected from standing genetic variation that originated in the mainland. Surprisingly, we were unable to identify a clear signature of selection in the Mc1r region, despite independent evidence that this locus contributes to adaptive coloration. Nonetheless, these data allow us to reconstruct and compare the evolutionary history of populations and alleles to better understand how adaptive evolution, following the colonization of a novel habitat, proceeds in nature.