Data from: Experimental evidence for ecological selection on genome variation in the wild

Understanding natural selection's effect on genetic variation is a major goal in biology, but the genome-scale consequences of contemporary selection are not well known. In a release and recapture field experiment we transplanted stick insects to native and novel host plants and directly measured allele frequency changes within a generation at 186 576 genetic loci. We observed substantial, genome-wide allele frequency changes during the experiment, most of which could be attributed to random mortality (genetic drift). However, we also documented that selection affected multiple genetic loci distributed across the genome, particularly in transplants to the novel host. Host-associated selection affecting the genome acted on both a known colour-pattern trait as well as other (unmeasured) phenotypes. We also found evidence that selection associated with elevation affected genome variation, although our experiment was not designed to test this. Our results illustrate how genomic data can identify previously underappreciated ecological sources and phenotypic targets of selection.

解析自然选择对遗传变异的作用是生物学领域的核心研究目标之一，但当代自然选择在基因组层面带来的具体效应仍未得到充分认知。在一项标记重捕野外实验中，我们将竹节虫移植至原生寄主植物与新型寄主植物，并在单个世代内直接测定了186576个基因座（genetic loci）的等位基因频率变化。实验期间我们观测到基因组范围内存在显著的等位基因频率变化，其中绝大多数可归因于随机死亡引发的遗传漂变。但我们同时证实，自然选择作用于分布于全基因组的多个基因座，这一效应在移植至新型寄主植物的组别中尤为突出。作用于基因组的寄主相关选择，既影响了已知的体色图案性状，也作用于其他未被测定的表型。尽管本实验并非为验证该效应而设计，但我们仍发现了与海拔相关的选择影响基因组变异的证据。本研究结果阐明了基因组数据如何助力识别此前未被充分认识的自然选择的生态来源与表型靶标。