RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Repeatability of adaptation in sunflowers: genomic regions harbouring inversions also drive adaptation in species lacking an inversion JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2023.02.17.528989 DO 10.1101/2023.02.17.528989 A1 Shagheyegh Soudi A1 Mojtaba Jahani A1 Marco Todesco A1 Gregory L. Owens A1 Natalia Bercovich A1 Loren H. Rieseberg A1 Sam Yeaman YR 2023 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/02/18/2023.02.17.528989.abstract AB Local adaptation commonly involves alleles of large effect, which experience fitness advantages when in positive linkage disequilibrium (LD). Because segregating inversions suppress recombination and facilitate the maintenance of LD between locally adapted loci, they are also commonly found to be associated with adaptive divergence. However, it is unclear what fraction of an adaptive response can be attributed to inversions and alleles of large effect, and whether the loci within an inversion could still drive adaptation in the absence of its recombination-suppressing effect. Here, we use genome-wide association studies to explore patterns of local adaptation in three species of sunflower: Helianthus annuus, H. argophyllus, and H. petiolaris, which each harbour a large number of species-specific inversions. We find evidence of significant genome-wide repeatability in signatures of association to phenotypes and environments, which are particularly enriched within regions of the genome harbouring an inversion in one species. This shows that while inversions may facilitate local adaptation, at least some of the loci involved can still make substantial contributions without the benefit of recombination suppression. While a large number of genomic regions show evidence of repeated adaptation, most of the strongest signatures of association still tend to be species-specific, indicating substantial genotypic redundancy for local adaptation in these species.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.