PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Rishi De-Kayne
AU  - Oliver M. Selz
AU  - David A. Marques
AU  - David Frei
AU  - Ole Seehausen
AU  - Philine G. D. Feulner
TI  - Hybridization and a mixture of small and large-effect loci facilitate adaptive radiation
AID  - 10.1101/2022.02.18.481029
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.02.18.481029
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/20/2022.02.18.481029.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/20/2022.02.18.481029.full
AB  - Adaptive radiations represent some of the most remarkable explosions of diversification across the tree of life. However, the constraints to rapid diversification and how they are sometimes overcome, particularly the relative roles of genetic architecture and hybridization, remain unclear. Here, we address these questions in the Alpine whitefish radiation, using a whole-genome dataset that includes multiple individuals of each of the 22 species belonging to six ecologically distinct ecomorph classes across several lake-systems. We reveal that repeated ecological and morphological diversification along a common environmental axis is associated with both genome-wide allele frequency shifts and a specific, larger effect, locus, associated with the gene edar. Additionally, we highlight the role of introgression between species from different lake-systems in facilitating the evolution and persistence of species with unique phenotypic combinations and ecology. These results highlight the role of both genome architecture and secondary contact with hybridization in fuelling adaptive radiation.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.