Transcriptome sequencing reveals both neutral and adaptive genome dynamics in a marine invader

Species invasions cause significant ecological and economic damage, and genetic information is important to understanding and managing invasive species. In the ocean, many invasive species have high dispersal and gene flow, lowering the discriminatory power of traditional genetic approaches. High-throughput sequencing holds tremendous promise for increasing resolution and illuminating the relative contributions of selection and drift in marine invasion, but has not yet been used to compare the diversity and dynamics of a high-dispersal invader in its native and invaded ranges. We test a transcriptome-based approach in the European green crab (Carcinus maenas), a widespread invasive species with high gene flow and a well-known invasion history, in two native and five invasive populations. A panel of 10 809 transcriptome-derived nuclear SNPs identified significant population structure among highly bottlenecked invasive populations that were previously undifferentiated with traditional mar...