Evolutionary paths to adaptive divergence: The role of ancient and ongoing hybridisation in rapid speciation of sailfin silverside fishes.

Adaptive radiations are showcases of evolutionary processes, characterised by rapid diversification of one ancestral lineage into an array of closely related species. We still do not understand how speciation, normally a slow process, can occur in such fast bursts. Recent genome-wide molecular studies suggest that rapid diversification might be fueled by cross-species hybridisation. In this project, I will obtain an integrative picture of the effects of hybridisation on the creation and maintenance of diversity in an adaptive radiation. The sailfin silverside fishes in Lake Matano, Sulawesi, are a rare case of adaptive radiation showing indications of both historical and ongoing hybridisation with an ancestral riverine lineage. This makes sailfin silversides uniquely suited to investigate the interplay of hybridisation and speciation in situ. I will perform the first genome-wide characterisation of the sailfin silverside radiation. Using whole-genome sequencing and innovative statistical approaches, I will resolve evolutionary relationships within the radiation, address the role of historical and ongoing hybridisation during diversification, and identify links between genetic exchange and ecological divergence. By establishing a thorough genomic context for all species of the radiation I advance the silverside radiation as a new model system in evolutionary biology and drive the development of statistical approaches that will be beneficial for future evolutionary research.

Keywords:GENOMICS

Disciplines:Analysis of next-generation sequence data, Computational evolutionary biology, comparative genomics and population genomics, Biology of adaptation, Population, ecological and evolutionary genetics, Aquatic biology

Project type:Collaboration project