SUPR
The genomic basis of diversification in strawberry poison dart frogs
Dnr:

NAISS 2024/22-461

Type:

NAISS Small Compute

Principal Investigator:

Anna Qvarnström

Affiliation:

Uppsala universitet

Start Date:

2024-04-10

End Date:

2025-05-01

Primary Classification:

10203: Bioinformatics (Computational Biology) (applications to be 10610)

Webpage:

Allocation

Abstract

One of the most striking examples of fast diversification is found in Strawberry poison dart frogs. During the last 10.000 years of sea level rise, various sub-populations became isolated on different island of the Bocas del Toro region in Panama. In contrast to the monomorphic red (with blue legs) founding population on the mainland, the frogs on the islands have diversified into a wide range of color morphs associated with differences in anti-predation strategies (crypsis/aposematism). We, examined this divergence based on genetic markers and studied associated changes in foraging and mating behavior (e.g. Rudh et al 2011). Some populations have secondarily developed crypsis and since mating relies heavily on color matching and visual perception, divergent coloration is a possible path to speciation. With the availability of the strawberry poison frog genome (Rogers et al., 2014), alongside the annotated genome of Xenopus tropicalis, it is now possible to produce robust transcriptome assemblies and study gene expression differences between sub-populations. This opens up exiting novel possibilities to reveal details about the genomic basis to this striking diversification. Understanding the genetic and ecological underpinning of shifts in coloration is crucial to understanding the evolution of these frogs specifically, but more generally also informs us about fundamental processes of speciation.