Independently Evolving Species in Asexual Bdelloid Rotifers Export

@article{citeulike:1179774, abstract = {Asexuals are an important test case for theories of why species exist. If asexual clades displayed the same pattern of discrete variation as sexual clades, this would challenge the traditional view that sex is necessary for diversification into species. However, critical evidence has been lacking: all putative examples have involved organisms with recent or ongoing histories of recombination and have relied on visual interpretation of patterns of genetic and phenotypic variation rather than on formal tests of alternative evolutionary scenarios. Here we show that a classic asexual clade, the bdelloid rotifers, has diversified into distinct evolutionary species. Intensive sampling of the genus Rotaria reveals the presence of well-separated genetic clusters indicative of independent evolution. Moreover, combined genetic and morphological analyses reveal divergent selection in feeding morphology, indicative of niche divergence. Some of the morphologically coherent groups experiencing divergent selection contain several genetic clusters, in common with findings of cryptic species in sexual organisms. Our results show that the main causes of speciation in sexual organisms, population isolation and divergent selection, have the same qualitative effects in an asexual clade. The study also demonstrates how combined molecular and morphological analyses can shed new light on the evolutionary nature of species.}, author = {Fontaneto, Diego and Herniou, Elisabeth A. and Boschetti, Chiara and Caprioli, Manuela and Melone, Giulio and Ricci, Claudia and Barraclough, Timothy G.}, citeulike-article-id = {1179774}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050087}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17373857}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=17373857}, day = {1}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.0050087}, journal = {PLoS Biology}, keywords = {asexual, evolution}, month = {April}, number = {4}, pages = {e87+}, posted-at = {2007-03-21 16:47:41}, priority = {2}, title = {Independently Evolving Species in Asexual Bdelloid Rotifers}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050087}, volume = {5}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1179774 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1179774 N2 - Asexuals are an important test case for theories of why species exist. If asexual clades displayed the same pattern of discrete variation as sexual clades, this would challenge the traditional view that sex is necessary for diversification into species. However, critical evidence has been lacking: all putative examples have involved organisms with recent or ongoing histories of recombination and have relied on visual interpretation of patterns of genetic and phenotypic variation rather than on formal tests of alternative evolutionary scenarios. Here we show that a classic asexual clade, the bdelloid rotifers, has diversified into distinct evolutionary species. Intensive sampling of the genus Rotaria reveals the presence of well-separated genetic clusters indicative of independent evolution. Moreover, combined genetic and morphological analyses reveal divergent selection in feeding morphology, indicative of niche divergence. Some of the morphologically coherent groups experiencing divergent selection contain several genetic clusters, in common with findings of cryptic species in sexual organisms. Our results show that the main causes of speciation in sexual organisms, population isolation and divergent selection, have the same qualitative effects in an asexual clade. The study also demonstrates how combined molecular and morphological analyses can shed new light on the evolutionary nature of species. IS - 4 JF - PLoS Biology TI - Independently Evolving Species in Asexual Bdelloid Rotifers VL - 5 SP - e87 KW - asexual KW - evolution AU - Fontaneto, Diego AU - Herniou, Elisabeth AU - Boschetti, Chiara AU - Caprioli, Manuela AU - Melone, Giulio AU - Ricci, Claudia AU - Barraclough, Timothy PY - 2007/04/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050087 ER -