Mitochondrial introgression by ancient admixture between two distant lacustrine fishes in Sulawesi Island

PLoS One. 2021 Jun 10;16(6):e0245316. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245316. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Sulawesi, an island located in a biogeographical transition zone between Indomalaya and Australasia, is famous for its high levels of endemism. Ricefishes (family Adrianichthyidae) are an example of taxa that have uniquely diversified on this island. It was demonstrated that habitat fragmentation due to the Pliocene juxtaposition among tectonic subdivisions of this island was the primary factor that promoted their divergence; however, it is also equally probable that habitat fusions and resultant admixtures between phylogenetically distant species may have frequently occurred. Previous studies revealed that some individuals of Oryzias sarasinorum endemic to a tectonic lake in central Sulawesi have mitochondrial haplotypes that are similar to the haplotypes of O. eversi, which is a phylogenetically related but geologically distant (ca. 190 km apart) adrianichthyid endemic to a small fountain. In this study, we tested if this reflects ancient admixture of O. eversi and O. sarasinorum. Population genomic analyses of genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms revealed that O. eversi and O. sarasinorum are substantially reproductively isolated from each other. Comparison of demographic models revealed that the models assuming ancient admixture from O. eversi to O. sarasinorum was more supported than the models assuming no admixture; this supported the idea that the O. eversi-like mitochondrial haplotype in O. sarasinorum was introgressed from O. eversi. This study is the first to demonstrate ancient admixture of lacustrine or pond organisms in Sulawesi beyond 100 km. The complex geological history of this island enabled such island-wide admixture of lacustrine organisms, which usually experience limited migration.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • DNA, Mitochondrial* / genetics
  • Ecosystem
  • Fishes / classification
  • Fishes / genetics
  • Genetic Introgression
  • Genetics, Population
  • Haplotypes*
  • Islands
  • Mitochondria / genetics
  • Phylogeny
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Collaborative Research of Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus to JK (https://tbc.skr.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/cooperative-studies/), Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology Grant Number JPMJCR20S2 (https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/crest/en/index.html), and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 26291093 and 17H01675 to KY (https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-grants/index.html). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.