Extensive genome introgression between domestic ferret and European polecat during population recovery in Great Britain

Etherington, Graham J., Ciezarek, Adam, Shaw, Rebecca, Michaux, Johan, Croose, Elizabeth, Haerty, Wilfried ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0111-191X and Di Palma, Federica (2022) Extensive genome introgression between domestic ferret and European polecat during population recovery in Great Britain. Journal of Heredity, 113 (5). pp. 500-515. ISSN 0022-1503

[thumbnail of Etherington_etal_2022_JoH]
Preview
PDF (Etherington_etal_2022_JoH) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (9MB) | Preview

Abstract

The European polecat (Mustela putorius) is a mammalian predator which occurs across much of Europe east to the Ural Mountains. In Great Britain, following years of persecution the range of the European polecat contracted and by the early 1900s was restricted to unmanaged forests of central Wales. The European polecat has recently undergone a population increase due to legal protection and its range now overlaps that of feral domestic ferrets (Mustela putorius furo). During this range expansion, European polecats hybridized with feral domestic ferrets producing viable offspring. Here, we carry out population-level whole-genome sequencing on 8 domestic ferrets, 19 British European polecats, and 15 European polecats from the European mainland. We used a range of population genomics methods to examine the data, including phylogenetics, phylogenetic graphs, model-based clustering, phylogenetic invariants, ABBA-BABA tests, topology weighting, and Fst. We found high degrees of genome introgression in British polecats outside their previous stronghold, even in those individuals phenotyped as "pure" polecats. These polecats ranged from presumed F1 hybrids (gamma = 0.53) to individuals that were much less introgressed (gamma = 0.2). We quantify this introgression and find introgressed genes containing Fst outliers associated with cognitive function and sight.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: This work was supported by The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, Core Capability Grant BB/CCG1720/1 and the work delivered via the Scientific Computing group, as well as support for the physical HPC infrastructure and data center delivered via the NBI Computing infrastructure for Science (CiS) group. Next-generation sequencing was delivered via the BBSRC National Capability in Genomics and Single Cell (BB/CCG1720/1) at Earlham Institute by members of the Genomics Pipelines Group.
Uncontrolled Keywords: conservation,domestic ferret,european polecat,genomics,introgression,mustelids,biotechnology,molecular biology,genetics,genetics(clinical) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1300/1305
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 04 Nov 2022 17:30
Last Modified: 04 Nov 2022 17:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/89630
DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esac038

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item