Selection on growth rate and local adaptation drive genomic adaptation during experimental range expansions in the protist Tetrahymena thermophila

1. Populations that expand their range can undergo rapid evolutionary adaptation of life-history traits, dispersal behaviour, and adaptation to the local environment. Such adaptation may be aided or hindered by sexual reproduction, depending on the context.

2. However, few empirical and experimental studies have investigated the genetic basis of adaptive evolution during range expansions. Even less attention has been given to the question how sexual reproduction may modulate such adaptive evolution during range expansions.

3. We here studied genomic adaptation during experimental range expansions of the protist Tetrahymena thermophilain landscapes with a uniform environment or a pH-gradient. Specifically, we investigated two aspects of genomic adaptation during range expansion. Firstly, we investigated adaptive genetic change in terms of the underlying numbers of allele frequency changes from standing genetic variation and de novo variants. We focused on how sexual reproduction ma...