The Genomic Basis of a Repeatedly Evolving Sexually-Selected Syndrome in Mediterranean Wall Lizards

Abstract

Traits can only function together if expressed together, but the evolution of such phenotypic integration remains poorly understood. In this talk, I will present our recent work on the evolutionary origin and geographic spread of a sexually selected syndrome in wall lizards. Climatic effects on the strength of sexual selection causes a mosaic of phenotypic variation across the landscape, and promotes asymmetric introgression into a distantly related lineage. The phenotypic integration of color, morphology, and behavior persists throughout a hybrid zone, pointing towards a genetic architecture with a single or few major loci. Analyses of genomic data supports this hypothesis and reveals a single candidate region with striking structural variations. I discuss how this genomic architecture can orchestrate the expression of color, morphology, and behavior, and what it can teach us about the evolution of complex phenotypes.

Nathalie Feiner

Nathalie Feiner is currently a researcher at Lund University, Sweden. After completing her PhD on comparative vertebrate genomics at the University of Konstanz, Germany, she conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, UK, as a Humboldt fellow and at Lund University as a Wennergren fellow. Since 2021, Nathalie Feiner is a group leader at Lund University and pursues research at the intersection of developmental biology, phenomics, genomics and ecology. A major them in her research is the question of how developmental processes shape evolutionary outcomes, and why evolution tends to repeat itself.