Abstract
Hybridizing populations of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis and Mytilus trossulus, in Cobscook Bay (eastern Maine) have been used by our laboratory to study the evolution of gamete incompatibility and molecular evolution of the vitelline coat lysin proteins expressed in sperm. The M7 lysin locus has been the most studied of the three lysins, but evidence for positive selection necessary to help confirm its role in gamete recognition in western Atlantic hybrid zones is contradictory. We developed an alternative test, based on rates of introgression at M7 lysin. Contrary to expectations, introgression at this locus is much higher (instead of much lower) than is introgression at neutral markers. In this article, we present simulations, constructed using synthetic populations of combinations of admixed genotypes, representing various hybrid offspring categories. Simulations produced variation in introgression across loci, but did not generate the massive introgression at M7 lysin observed in natural populations in Cobscook Bay. We consider these results in the context of selection operating on gamete recognition loci, both within and between species, during the third stage of allopatric speciation in Mytilus.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 474-484 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Integrative and comparative biology |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:National Science Foundation Biological Oceanography program (grant OCE-0961325 to M.A.M.); University of North Carolina graduate school (to T.G.L.).