Ecological genomics in the Northern krill uncovers loci for local adaptation across ocean basins

Per Unneberg, Mårten Larsson, Anna Olsson, Ola Wallerman, Anna Petri, Ignas Bunikis, Olga Vinnere Pettersson, Chiara Papetti, Astthor Gislason, Henrik Glenner, Joan E. Cartes, Leocadio Blanco-Bercial, Elena Eriksen, Bettina Meyer and Andreas Wallberg ()
Additional contact information
Per Unneberg: Uppsala University
Mårten Larsson: Uppsala University
Anna Olsson: Uppsala University
Ola Wallerman: Uppsala University
Anna Petri: National Genomics Infrastructure hosted by SciLifeLab
Ignas Bunikis: National Genomics Infrastructure hosted by SciLifeLab
Olga Vinnere Pettersson: National Genomics Infrastructure hosted by SciLifeLab
Chiara Papetti: University of Padova
Astthor Gislason: Pelagic Division
Henrik Glenner: University of Bergen
Joan E. Cartes: Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC)
Leocadio Blanco-Bercial: Arizona State University
Elena Eriksen: Institute of Marine Research (IMR)
Bettina Meyer: Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Andreas Wallberg: Uppsala University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-29

Abstract: Abstract Krill are vital as food for many marine animals but also impacted by global warming. To learn how they and other zooplankton may adapt to a warmer world we studied local adaptation in the widespread Northern krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica). We assemble and characterize its large genome and compare genome-scale variation among 74 specimens from the colder Atlantic Ocean and warmer Mediterranean Sea. The 19 Gb genome likely evolved through proliferation of retrotransposons, now targeted for inactivation by extensive DNA methylation, and contains many duplicated genes associated with molting and vision. Analysis of 760 million SNPs indicates extensive homogenizing gene-flow among populations. Nevertheless, we detect signatures of adaptive divergence across hundreds of genes, implicated in photoreception, circadian regulation, reproduction and thermal tolerance, indicating polygenic adaptation to light and temperature. The top gene candidate for ecological adaptation was nrf-6, a lipid transporter with a Mediterranean variant that may contribute to early spring reproduction. Such variation could become increasingly important for fitness in Atlantic stocks. Our study underscores the widespread but uneven distribution of adaptive variation, necessitating characterization of genetic variation among natural zooplankton populations to understand their adaptive potential, predict risks and support ocean conservation in the face of climate change.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50239-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-50239-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50239-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().