Congruent population structure across paralogous and nonparalogous loci in Salish Sea chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta).

Whole-genome duplications are major evolutionary events with a lasting impact on genome structure. Duplication events complicate genetic analyses as paralogous sequences are difficult to distinguish; consequently, paralogs are often excluded from studies. The effects of an ancient whole-genome duplication (approximately 88 MYA) are still evident in salmonids through the persistence of numerous paralogous gene sequences and partial tetrasomic inheritance. We use restriction site-associated DNA sequencing on 10 collections of chum salmon from the Salish Sea in the USA and Canada to investigate genetic diversity and population structure in both tetrasomic and rediploidized regions of the genome. We use a pedigree and high-density linkage map to identify paralogous loci and to investigate genetic variation across the genome. By applying multivariate statistical methods, we show that it is possible to characterize paralogous loci and that they display similar patterns of population structure as the diploidized portion of the genome. We find genetic associations with the adaptively important trait of run-timing in both sets of loci. By including paralogous loci in genome scans, we can observe evolutionary signals in genomic regions that have routinely been excluded from population genetic studies in other polyploid-derived species.

Major histocompatibility complex diversity is positively associated with stream water temperatures in proximate populations of sockeye salmon.

Local adaptation to heterogeneous environments generates population diversity within species, significantly increasing ecosystem stability and flows of ecosystem services. However, few studies have isolated the specific mechanisms that create and maintain this diversity. Here, we examined the relationship between water temperature in streams used for spawning and genetic diversity at a gene involved in immune function [the major histocompatibility complex (MHC)] in 14 populations of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) sampled across the Wood River basin in south-western Alaska. The largest influence on MHC diversity was lake basin, but we also found a significant positive correlation between average water temperature and MHC diversity. This positive relationship between temperature and MHC diversity appears to have been produced by natural selection at very local scales rather than neutral processes, as no correlation was observed between temperature and genetic diversity at 90 neutral markers. Additionally, no significant relationship was observed between temperature variability and MHC diversity. Although lake basin was the largest driver of differences in MHC diversity, our results also demonstrate that fine-scale differences in water temperature may generate variable selection regimes in populations that spawn in habitats separated by as little as 1 km. Additionally, our results indicated that some populations may be reaching a maximum level of MHC diversity. We postulate that salmon from populations in warm streams may delay spawning until late summer to avoid thermal stress as well as the elevated levels of pathogen prevalence and virulence associated with warm temperatures earlier in the summer.

An integrated linkage map reveals candidate genes underlying adaptive variation in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).

Salmonids are an important cultural and ecological resource exhibiting near worldwide distribution between their native and introduced range. Previous research has generated linkage maps and genomic resources for several species as well as genome assemblies for two species. We first leveraged improvements in mapping and genotyping methods to create a dense linkage map for Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha by assembling family data from different sources. We successfully mapped 14 620 SNP loci including 2336 paralogs in subtelomeric regions. This improved map was then used as a foundation to integrate genomic resources for gene annotation and population genomic analyses. We anchored a total of 286 scaffolds from the Atlantic salmon genome to the linkage map to provide a framework for the placement 11 728 Chinook salmon ESTs. Previously identified thermotolerance QTL were found to colocalize with several candidate genes including HSP70, a gene known to be involved in thermal response, as well as its inhibitor. Multiple regions of the genome with elevated divergence between populations were also identified, and annotation of ESTs in these regions identified candidate genes for fitness related traits such as stress response, growth and behaviour. Collectively, these results demonstrate the utility of combining genomic resources with linkage maps to enhance evolutionary inferences.

Linkage mapping with paralogs exposes regions of residual tetrasomic inheritance in chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta).

Gene sequence similarity due to shared ancestry after a duplication event, that is paralogy, complicates the assessment of genetic variation, as sequences originating from paralogs can be difficult to distinguish. These confounded sequences are often removed prior to further analyses, leaving the underlying loci uncharacterized. Salmonids have only partially rediploidized subsequent to a whole-genome duplication; residual tetrasomic inheritance has been observed in males. We present a maximum-likelihood-based method to resolve confounded paralogous loci by observing the segregation of alleles in gynogenetic haploid offspring and demonstrate its effectiveness by constructing two linkage maps for chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), with and without these newly resolved loci. We find that the resolved paralogous loci are not randomly distributed across the genome. A majority are clustered in expanded subtelomeric regions of 14 linkage groups, suggesting a significant fraction of the chum salmon genome may be missed by the exclusion of paralogous loci. Transposable elements have been proposed as drivers of genome evolution and, in salmonids, may have an important role in the rediploidization process by driving differentiation between homeologous chromosomes. Consistent with that hypothesis, we find a reduced fraction of transposable element annotations among paralogous loci, and these loci predominately occur in the genomic regions that lag in the rediploidization process.

Parallel signatures of selection in temporally isolated lineages of pink salmon.

Studying the effect of similar environments on diverse genetic backgrounds has long been a goal of evolutionary biologists with studies typically relying on experimental approaches. Pink salmon, a highly abundant and widely ranging salmonid, provide a naturally occurring opportunity to study the effects of similar environments on divergent genetic backgrounds due to a strict two-year semelparous life history. The species is composed of two reproductively isolated lineages with overlapping ranges that share the same spawning and rearing environments in alternate years. We used restriction-site-associated DNA (RAD) sequencing to discover and genotype approximately 8000 SNP loci in three population pairs of even- and odd-year pink salmon along a latitudinal gradient in North America. We found greater differentiation within the odd-year than within the even-year lineage and greater differentiation in the southern pair from Puget Sound than in the northern Alaskan population pairs. We identified 15 SNPs reflecting signatures of parallel selection using both a differentiation-based method (BAYESCAN) and an environmental correlation method (BAYENV). These SNPs represent genomic regions that may be particularly informative in understanding adaptive evolution in pink salmon and exploring how differing genetic backgrounds within a species respond to selection from the same natural environment.

Secondary contact and changes in coastal habitat availability influence the nonequilibrium population structure of a salmonid (Oncorhynchus keta).

Numerous empirical studies have reported lack of migration-drift equilibrium in wild populations. Determining the causes of nonequilibrium population structure is challenging because different evolutionary processes acting at a variety of spatiotemporal scales can produce similar patterns. Studies of contemporary populations in northern latitudes suggest that nonequilibrium population structure is probably caused by recent colonization of the region after the last Pleistocene ice age ended ~13,000 years ago. The chum salmon's (Oncorhynchus keta) range was fragmented by dramatic environmental changes during the Pleistocene. We investigated the population structure of chum salmon on the North Alaska Peninsula (NAP) and, using both empirical data and simulations, evaluated the effects of colonization timing and founder population heterogeneity on patterns of genetic differentiation. We screened 161 single nucleotide polymorphisms and found evidence of nonequilibrium population structure when the slope of the isolation-by-distance relationship was examined at incremental spatial scales. In addition, simulations suggested that this pattern closely matched models of recent colonization of the NAP by secondary contact. Our results agree with geological and archaeological data indicating that the NAP was a dynamic landscape that may have been more recently colonized than during the last deglaciation because of dramatic changes in coastal hydrology over the last several thousand years.

Transcriptome sequencing and high-resolution melt analysis advance single nucleotide polymorphism discovery in duplicated salmonids.

Until recently, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery in nonmodel organisms faced many challenges, often depending upon a targeted-gene approach and Sanger sequencing of many individuals. The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has dramatically improved discovery, but validating and testing SNPs for use in population studies remain labour intensive. Here, we detail a SNP discovery and validation pipeline that incorporates 454 pyrosequencing, high-resolution melt analysis (HRMA) and 5' nuclease genotyping. We generated 4.59×10(8) bp of redundant sequence from transcriptomes of two individual chum salmon, a highly valued species across the Pacific Rim. Nearly 26000 putative SNPs were identified--some as heterozygotes and some as homozygous for different nucleotides in the two individuals. For validation, we selected 202 templates containing single putative SNPs and conducted HRMA on 10 individuals from each of 19 populations from across the species range. Finally, 5' nuclease genotyping validated 37 SNPs that conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations. Putative SNPs expressed as heterozygotes in an ascertainment individual had more than twice the validation rate of those homozygous for different alleles in the two fish, suggesting that many of the latter may have been paralogous sequence variants. Overall, this validation rate of 37/202 suggests that we have found more than 4500 templates containing SNPs for use in this population set. We anticipate using this pipeline to significantly expand the number of SNPs available for the studies of population structure and mixture analyses as well as for the studies of adaptive genetic variation in nonmodel organisms.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms across a species' range: implications for conservation studies of Pacific salmon.

Studies of the oceanic and near-shore distributions of Pacific salmon, whose migrations typically span thousands of kilometres, have become increasingly valuable in the presence of climate change, increasing hatchery production and potentially high rates of bycatch in offshore fisheries. Genetics data offer considerable insights into both the migratory routes as well as the evolutionary histories of the species. However, these types of studies require extensive data sets from spawning populations originating from across the species' range. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been particularly amenable for multinational applications because they are easily shared, require little interlaboratory standardization and can be assayed through increasingly efficient technologies. Here, we discuss the development of a data set for 114 populations of chum salmon through a collaboration among North American and Asian researchers, termed PacSNP. PacSNP is focused on developing the database and applying it to problems of international interest. A data set spanning the entire range of species provides a unique opportunity to examine patterns of variability, and we review issues associated with SNP development. We found evidence of ascertainment bias within the data set, variable linkage relationships between SNPs associated with ancestral groupings and outlier loci with alleles associated with latitude.

The influence of hydrology and waterway distance on population structure of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in a large river.

Adult Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha navigate in river systems using olfactory cues that may be influenced by hydrologic factors such as flow and the number, size and spatial distribution of tributaries. Thus, river hydrology may influence both homing success and the level of straying (gene flow), which in turn influences population structure. In this study, two methods of multivariate analysis were used to examine the extent to which four indicators of hydrology and waterway distance explained population structure of O. tshawytscha in the Yukon River. A partial Mantel test showed that the indicators of hydrology were positively associated with broad-scale (Yukon basin) population structure, when controlling for the influence of waterway distance. Multivariate multiple regression showed that waterway distance, supplemented with the number and flow of major drainage basins, explained more variation in broad-scale population structure than any single indicator. At an intermediate spatial scale, indicators of hydrology did not appear to influence population structure after accounting for waterway distance. These results suggest that habitat changes in the Yukon River, which alter hydrology, may influence the basin-wide pattern of population structure in O. tshawytscha. Further research is warranted on the role of hydrology in concert with waterway distance in influencing population structure in Pacific salmon.

Differentiating salmon populations at broad and fine geographical scales with microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are appealing genetic markers due to several beneficial attributes, but uncertainty remains about how many of these bi-allelic markers are necessary to have sufficient power to differentiate populations, a task now generally accomplished with highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. In this study, we tested the utility of 37 SNPs and 13 microsatellites for differentiating 29 broadly distributed populations of Chinook salmon (n = 2783). Information content of all loci was determined by In and G'(ST), and the top 12 markers ranked by In were microsatellites, but the 6 highest, and 7 of the top 10 G'(ST) ranked markers, were SNPs. The mean ratio of random SNPs to random microsatellites ranged from 3.9 to 4.1, but this ratio was consistently reduced when only the most informative loci were included. Individual assignment test accuracy was higher for microsatellites (73.1%) than SNPs (66.6%), and pooling all 50 markers provided the highest accuracy (83.2%). When marker types were combined, as few as 15 of the top ranked loci provided higher assignment accuracy than either microsatellites or SNPs alone. Neighbour-joining dendrograms revealed similar clustering patterns and pairwise tests of population differentiation had nearly identical results with each suite of markers. Statistical tests and simulations indicated that closely related populations were better differentiated by microsatellites than SNPs. Our results indicate that both types of markers are likely to be useful in population genetics studies and that, in some cases, a combination of SNPs and microsatellites may be the most effective suite of loci.

Concordance of genetic divergence among sockeye salmon populations at allozyme, nuclear DNA, and mitochondrial DNA markers.

We examined genetic variation at 21 polymorphic allozyme loci, 15 nuclear DNA loci, and mitochondrial DNA in four spawning populations of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Cook Inlet, Alaska, to test for differences in the patterns of divergence among different types of markers. We were specifically interested in testing the suggestion that natural selection at allozyme loci compromises the effectiveness of these markers for describing the amount and patterns of gene flow among populations. We found concordance among markers in the amount of genetic variation within and among populations, with the striking exception of one allozyme locus (sAH), which exhibited more than three times the amount of among-population differentiation as other loci. A consideration of reports of discordance between allozymes and other loci indicates that these differences usually result from one or two exceptional loci. We conclude that it is important to examine many loci when estimating genetic differentiation to infer historical amounts of gene flow and patterns of genetic exchange among populations. It is less important whether those loci are allozymes or nuclear DNA markers.

Gene mapping of isozyme loci in chum salmon.

Recombination values were used to calculate the gene-centromere map distances for four electrophoretically detected loci, Aat3, Idh1, Idh4, and Mpi, in chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta). We also report the results from 39 pairwise examinations for joint segregation for 10 loci in nine testcross families. Only two loci assorted nonrandomly--either Aat1 or Aat2 with Gpt. Gene-centromere distances for Aat3 and Mpi differed significantly from those reported previously for rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri), a closely related species. This difference indicates either the presence of chromosome rearrangements or a different rate of recombination between the species. These results contrast with the conservation of linkage distances previously reported within and between other salmonid genera.