Southern introgression increases adaptive immune gene variability in northern range margin populations of Fire-bellied toad

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

Northern range margin populations of the European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) have rapidly declined during recent decades. Extensive agricultural land use has fragmented the landscape, leading to habitat disruption and loss, as well as eutrophication of ponds. In Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and Southern Sweden (Skåne), this population decline resulted in decreased gene flow from surrounding populations, low genetic diversity, and a putative reduction in adaptive potential, leaving populations vulnerable to future environmental and climatic changes. Previous studies using mitochondrial control region and nuclear transcriptome-wide SNP data detected introgressive hybridization in multiple northern B. bombina populations after unreported release of toads from Austria. Here, we determine the impact of this introgression by comparing the body conditions (proxy for fitness) of introgressed and nonintrogressed populations and the genetic consequences in two candidate genes for putative local adaptation (the MHC II gene as part of the adaptive immune system and the stress response gene HSP70 kDa). We detected regional differences in body condition and observed significantly elevated levels of within individual MHC allele counts in introgressed Swedish populations, associated with a tendency toward higher body weight, relative to regional nonintrogressed populations. These differences were not observed among introgressed and nonintrogressed German populations. Genetic diversity in both MHC and HSP was generally lower in northern than Austrian populations. Our study sheds light on the potential benefits of translocations of more distantly related conspecifics as a means to increase adaptive genetic variability and fitness of genetically depauperate range margin populations without distortion of local adaptation.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftEcology and Evolution
Vol/bind11
Udgave nummer14
Sider (fra-til)9776-9790
Antal sider15
ISSN2045-7758
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, TI 349‐13‐1) and the University of Potsdam. The authors like to acknowledge Georg Gassner from the Natural History Museum Vienna for assisting with sampling in Austria, Sofia Paraskevopoulou for assistance in the field in Sweden, and Caroline Lenk for her field work help in Germany. We also like to thank Prof. Dr. Michael Hofreiter for the use of his laboratory facilities. Finally, we acknowledge the High‐Performance Computing Cluster Orson2, managed by ZIM (Zentrum für Informationstechnologie und Medienmanagement) at the University of Potsdam where large‐scale computations were performed. Austrian toads were sampled under permit “Zahl: 5/N.AB‐10054‐16‐2016” given by the state Burgenland.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, TI 349-13-1) and the University of Potsdam. The authors like to acknowledge Georg Gassner from the Natural History Museum Vienna for assisting with sampling in Austria, Sofia Paraskevopoulou for assistance in the field in Sweden, and Caroline Lenk for her field work help in Germany. We also like to thank Prof. Dr. Michael Hofreiter for the use of his laboratory facilities. Finally, we acknowledge the High-Performance Computing Cluster Orson2, managed by ZIM (Zentrum f?r Informationstechnologie und Medienmanagement) at the University of Potsdam where large-scale computations were performed. Austrian toads were sampled under permit ?Zahl: 5/N.AB-10054-16-2016? given by the state Burgenland.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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