Supergenes and complex phenotypes.

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_EB765C869F23
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Review (review): journal as complete as possible of one specific subject, written based on exhaustive analyses from published work.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Supergenes and complex phenotypes.
Journal
Current Biology
Author(s)
Schwander T., Libbrecht R., Keller L.
ISSN
1879-0445 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0960-9822
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2014
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
24
Number
7
Pages
R288-R294
Language
english
Abstract
Understanding the molecular underpinnings of evolutionary adaptations is a central focus of modern evolutionary biology. Recent studies have uncovered a panoply of complex phenotypes, including locally adapted ecotypes and cryptic morphs, divergent social behaviours in birds and insects, as well as alternative metabolic pathways in plants and fungi, that are regulated by clusters of tightly linked loci. These 'supergenes' segregate as stable polymorphisms within or between natural populations and influence ecologically relevant traits. Some supergenes may span entire chromosomes, because selection for reduced recombination between a supergene and a nearby locus providing additional benefits can lead to locus expansions with dynamics similar to those known for sex chromosomes. In addition to allowing for the co-segregation of adaptive variation within species, supergenes may facilitate the spread of complex phenotypes across species boundaries. Application of new genomic methods is likely to lead to the discovery of many additional supergenes in a broad range of organisms and reveal similar genetic architectures for convergently evolved phenotypes.
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
28/01/2014 17:05
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:13
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