A large genomic insertion containing a duplicated follistatin gene is linked to the pea aphid male wing dimorphism.
Wing dimorphisms have long served as models for examining the ecological and evolutionary tradeoffs associated with alternative phenotypes. Here, we investigated the genetic cause of the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) male wing dimorphism, wherein males exhibit one of two morphologies that differ in correlated traits that include the presence or absence of wings. We mapped this trait difference to a single genomic region and, using third generation, long-read sequencing, we identified a 120 kb insertion in the wingless allele. This insertion includes a duplicated follistatin gene, which is a strong candidate gene in the minimal mapped interval to cause the dimorphism. We found that both alleles were present prior to pea aphid biotype lineage diversification, we estimated that the insertion occurred millions of years ago, and we propose that both alleles have been maintained in the species, likely due to balancing selection.
['Li|Binshuang|B|0000-0002-3643-747X', 'Bickel|Ryan D|RD|', 'Parker|Benjamin J|BJ|0000-0002-0679-4732', 'Saleh Ziabari|Omid|O|', 'Liu|Fangzhou|F|', 'Vellichirammal|Neetha Nanoth|NN|', 'Simon|Jean-Christophe|JC|', 'Stern|David L|DL|0000-0002-1847-6483', 'Brisson|Jennifer A|JA|0000-0001-7000-0709']
D000483:Alleles D000818:Animals D001042:Aphids D002874:Chromosome Mapping D019143:Evolution, Molecular D038681:Follistatin D020440:Gene Duplication D056726:Genetic Association Studies D008040:Genetic Linkage D049750:Genome, Insect D023281:Genomics D008297:Male D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional D010641:Phenotype D010802:Phylogeny D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci D014921:Wings, Animal
genomics wing dimorphism genetics Acyrthosiphon pisum dispersal evolutionary biology gene duplication genetic mapping polymorphism