Coevolution• Fitness is a genotype-by-environment interaction.
• The environment for one species includes other species
• For species that interact, they form part of each other’s “environment”
• As one species adapts to the “environment” defined by the other species, the other species in turn can adapt to the changing “environment” created by evolution in the first species.
• Interactions between species therefore can set up an evolutionary feedback loop that causes the species to COEVOLVE in response to one another
Coevolution
Coevolution is simply natural selection
operating within each of the interacting species, recognizing that each
species constitutes part of the environment of the
other species.
Interspecific Interactions
Species 1 Species 2 Interaction
0 0 Neutralism
+ 0Commensalis
m
- 0 Amensalism
+ -Predator-prey;Herbivore-plantPathogen-host
- - Competition
+ + Mutualism
True Interactions
Predator-PreyE.g., HIV and Humans
Human Immune System and Cell Types Cause Selection On HIV v3 Region
Predator-PreyE.g., HIV and Humans
Does HIV Induce Natural Selection in Humans? If So, This Is A Co-Evolving System.
Predator-Prey
E.g., HIV and Humans
For HIV To Have An Impact on Human Evolution, This
Variation Must be Inherited (& Heritable)
There is much variation in the rate at which AIDS develops after HIV infection in humans, with some people never developing AIDS even decades after their original
infection.
Predator-Prey
E.g., HIV and Humans
Genome Scan For Resistance To HIV
Can Look For Evidence of Inheritance Through Linkage Analysis for QTL’s, With Locations Suggesting Candidate Genes
Predator-Prey
E.g., HIV and Humans
CCR5 As A Candidate Gene For Resistance to HIV
HIV-1 initially interacts with a cell-surface receptor, primarily CD4
Conformational changes in both the viral envelope and the CD4 receptor
permit the binding of gp120 to another cell-surface receptor, such as CCR5. HIV then fuses with the
cell.
People bearing a frameshift mutation in the CCR5 locus are resistant to HIV.
Under Isolation By Distance and Coalescent Theory, A New Mutant Is
Usually Most Frequent Near Its Center of Origin.
The CCR5 Frameshift Polymorphism
Coalescent Analysis Also Indicates Frameshift Mutant Originated 275-1,875
Years Ago.
The Current Allele Frequencies In Europe Are Too High To Have Evolved In This Time Period Under Genetic Drift (drift theory implies it would take about 127,000 years to explain its current European frequencies)
Hypothesis:
•The black plague bacillus produces an effector protein that binds CCR5 that leads to diminished immune response
•Europe has been subjected to several waves of black plague in the last 2000 years, including one that killed 25-33% of the population in 1346-1352
•CCR532 arose in Europe and could have been selected if it provides resistance to the black plague
Duncan, S. R., S. Scott, and C. J. Duncan. 2005. Journal Of Medical Genetics 42:205-208. Pop. gen. theory shows the plague could explain the current frequency
Sabeti et al. 2005. PLoS Biology 3.
Bollback et al. 2008. Genetics 179:497-502. Allele may be much older, so perhaps neutral evolution could explain it.
Zawicki, P., and H. W. Witas. 2008. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 8:146-151. Freq. of allele in bodies from 11-14th century Poland already at freq. of 5%, so either neutral or selection prior to Black Death.
Galvani and Slatkin. 2003. PNAS 100: 15276-15279. Poxviruses also use chemokine receptors, so perhaps evolved in response to smallpox, another potent selective agent in Europe and Western Asia (not mutually exclusive with role of plague as selective agent).
Subsequent Analyses
CCL3, CCL4, and CCL18 are potent chemoattractants produced by macrophages, natural killer cells,
fibroblasts, mast cells, CD4 + T cells, and CD8 + T cells. CCL3 and CCL4 are natural ligands for the primary human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) coreceptor CCR5 and are also known to
activate and enhance the cytotoxicity of natural killer cells.
Other Loci Have Been Identified For HIV Resistance via Candidate Locus Approach; e.g. Modi et al.
2006. Am J Hum Genet 79:120-128.
D in European Americans
Other Loci Have Been Identified For HIV Resistance via Genome Scanning and Candidate Loci Approaches, And Some Display Epistasis and Heterozygous Effects and High Allele Frequencies
(hence, they produce heritable variation).
SDF codes for a type of protein called a chemokine
that binds to other receptors used by HIV such as CXCR4, Causing the Receptor To Be Taken Into the Cell and No Longer on the Cell Surface
Current Statistics From South Africa
These differences in resistance translate into
heritable fitness differences, so HIV is affecting human evolution
Studies Are Now Underway To Identify Those Genes Subjected to Positive Selection In The Lineage Leading To
Humans. E.g., Vallender & Lahn (2004):
Function of Gene No. of Genes
Host-Pathogen Interactions
23
Reproduction 14
Sensory Systems 7
Dietary Adaptation 4
Neurotransmission 3
Brain Size & Anatomy
3
Skin Color 1
Other 8
COMPETITION
• Sometimes, one species out-competes competitors and drives them to extinction -- ends all coevolution
• Sometimes, coevolution results in adaptations that reduce competition such that the species can coexist.
The Finches of the Galapagos Islands
• Darwin found several species of closely related finches when he visited the Galapagos Islands.– The Galapagos Islands are very isolated so it is probable that these finches evolved from a common ancestor.
small groundfinch
large groundfinch
warbler finchtree finch using atwig to fish for insects
Competition in
Darwin’s Finches:
Beak Shape and Size Is
An Indicator of the
Types of Food The Birds Can
Eat.
h2 in G. fortis
Ancestral Reconstruction of Habitat Specialist
Evolution on Two Islands
TwigTrunk/Ground
Jamaica
Twig
Puerto Rico
Crown/Giant
Trunk/Ground
Crown/Giant
Trunk/Crown
Trunk/Crown
Grass/Bush
Crown
GeneralistGeneralist
Trunk/Grnd
Trunk/Grnd
MUTUALISM
E.g., Heliconius Butterflies
Heliconius erato
DifferentSpeciesIn TheSameArea
Heliconius melpomene
Heliconius melpomene
SameSpecies
InDifferentAreas
Baxter, S. W. et al. Genetics 2008;180:1567-1577
Heliconius melpomene and H. erato comimics
Passiflora
Heliconius caterpillars feed on passiflora, which makes them poisonous to birds. They evolve warning coloration. Experiments show that bird predators can quickly learn to avoid these color patterns, but this learning is more rapid when all butterflies in a single area converge upon a common pattern. This type of mutualistic mimicry is called Müllerian mimicry.
Heliconius cydno gathers pollen from Psiguria flower.
(Rainforest cucumber)
Coevolutionary interactions among
species can be complex;
e.g., Heliconius butterflies are
very long-lived as adults and reproduce
throughout that long life.
Therefore, they need a pollen source for
proteins. The species are involved in
intense competition for these pollen resources.
Different Heliconius species lay eggs on different species of Passiflora: are neutralists for larval
food resources
Different Heliconius species use the same pollen food resources: Hence their adult foraging
behaviors are driven by competitive interactions
Different Heliconius species are selected to converge upon a common, mutualistic warning coloration pattern by their interspecific
interaction with birds
Different traits within the same species can coevolve in radically different
directions. Mendelian genetics allows such complex coevolution to occur.
Mutualism
Competition
Neutralism
Mendelian genetics allows such complex coevolution to occur in part because
underlying genetics is simple.
Kronforst et al. (Genetics 174:535-539, 2006) did a genome scan using some of the most divergent species in genus. Found that different species achieved phenotypic convergence via homologous genes, and only 9 genes can explain the amazing wing diversity in this group.
Copyright © 2008 by the Genetics Society of America
Baxter, S. W. et al. Genetics 2008;180:1567-1577
Linkage maps comparing homologous chromosomes from H. erato, H. melpomene, and H. numata that affect red color shifts on wings
Baxter, S. W. et al. Genetics 2008;180:1567-1577
Analysis of recombinants spanning the HmB/D region on LG18
A methionine rich storage protein (MRSP) gene was identified, and comparative genetic mapping shows red wing color loci are in homologous regions of the genome of H. erato and H. melpomene. Subtle differences in these convergent phenotypes imply they evolved independently using somewhat different developmental routes, but are nonetheless regulated by the same switch locus.
Mendelian genetics allows such complex coevolution to occur in part because
underlying genetics is simple.
Reed RD, McMillan WO, Nagy LM (2007) Gene expression underlying adaptive variation in Heliconius wing patterns: non-modular regulation of overlapping cinnabar and vermilion prepatterns. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275, 37-45.
Coevolution Can Lead to Speciation (Kronforst et al. PNAS 103:6575-6580, 2006)
Interval MapOf MatingPreference
CompositeInterval Map
Of MatingPreference
0.05 Significance Threshold
H.c H.c H.p. H.p
H.c H.c H.p. H.p
Baxter, S. W. et al. Genetics 2008;180:1567-1577
Linkage map of H. melpomene LG18 (77.3 cM, log likelihood = -92.61)
Big Question: Why Do Any Species of Heliconius Have Regional Variation in Color Patterns? It Would Seem That A Single Universal Pattern Would Be The Most Effective Adaptive Solution.An Early Answer To This Was Pleistocene Refuges: the idea that climatic fluctuations in the Pleistocene created isolated subpopulations which adaptively diverged to form the initial “races”. Modern studies fail to support the existence of these refuges and modern comparative analysis indicate that the divergence times are not consistent with climatic fluctuations.
A second idea was that Heliconius species show strong population subdivision, and genetic drift interacting with selection (e.g., shifting balance) created differences among local populations leading to “races”. But modern population genetic studies indicate that most species of Heliconius are strong dispersers marked by much gene flow and little population subdivision.
They examined the fine-scale population genetic structure of eight Costa Rican Heliconius species with 1428 AFLP markers. The species were chosen from two clades: molecular phylogenetics indicates that one clade was the first to diversify into local “races”, and the second clade evolved later to parallel the first group through coevolution.
Kronforst and Gilbert (2008, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275:493-500) suggest an alternative.
Large fst,
Sign. IBDSign. IBD
Sign. IBD
3 of the 4 species in the older clade show significant isolation by distance, and the most abundant species (H. erato), which should dominate much of the coevolution, has a large fst, indicating a strong potential drift and shifting balance.
The species in the clade that later radiated onto these patterns had intermediate levels of genetic diversity and less genetic differentiation among populations.
Kronforst and Gilbert (2008, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275:493-500) suggest an alternative.
Sign. IBDOnly 1 of the 4 species in the younger clade show significant isolation by distance: little potential for drift and shifting balance.
Genetic Drift in perhaps just one, widespread, abundant but highly subdivided species triggered adaptive local
differentiation in other species through coevolution that did have the population structure to initiate such
differentiation.
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