How locally adapted ecotypes are established and maintained within a species is a long-standing question in evolutionary biology. Using forest and prairie ecotypes of deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus ), we characterized the genetic basis of variation in two defining traits—tail length and coat color—and discovered a 41-megabase chromosomal inversion linked to both. The inversion frequency is 90% in the dark, long-tailed forest ecotype; decreases across a habitat transition; and is absent from the light, short-tailed prairie ecotype. We implicate divergent selection in maintaining the inversion at frequencies observed in the wild, despite high levels of gene flow, and explore fitness benefits that arise from suppressed recombination within the inversion. We uncover a key role for a large, previously uncharacterized inversion in the evolution and maintenance of classic mammalian ecotypes.

中文翻译：

---

染色体倒位导致鹿鼠生态型之间多种性状的差异


如何在一个物种内建立和维持适应当地的生态型是进化生物学中长期存在的问题。利用森林和草原生态型的鹿鼠 (Peromyscus maniculatus)，我们描述了两个决定性状（尾长和毛色）变异的遗传基础，并发现了与这两个特征相关的 41 兆碱基染色体倒位。暗长尾森林生态型反转频率为90%；随着栖息地的转变而减少；并且不存在于轻型、短尾草原生态型中。尽管基因流水平较高，但我们仍将发散性选择用于维持在野外观察到的频率的倒位，并探索倒位内抑制重组所产生的适应性益处。我们发现了先前未表征的大规模反转在经典哺乳动物生态型的进化和维持中的关键作用。