The determinants of genetic diversity in butterflies

Alexander Mackintosh (), Dominik R. Laetsch, Alexander Hayward, Brian Charlesworth, Martin Waterfall, Roger Vila and Konrad Lohse ()
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Alexander Mackintosh: University of Edinburgh
Dominik R. Laetsch: University of Edinburgh
Alexander Hayward: University of Exeter
Brian Charlesworth: University of Edinburgh
Martin Waterfall: University of Edinburgh
Roger Vila: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Konrad Lohse: University of Edinburgh

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Under the neutral theory, genetic diversity is expected to increase with population size. While comparative analyses have consistently failed to find strong relationships between census population size and genetic diversity, a recent study across animals identified a strong correlation between propagule size and genetic diversity, suggesting that r-strategists that produce many small offspring, have greater long-term population sizes. Here we compare genome-wide genetic diversity across 38 species of European butterflies (Papilionoidea), a group that shows little variation in reproductive strategy. We show that genetic diversity across butterflies varies over an order of magnitude and that this variation cannot be explained by differences in current abundance, propagule size, host or geographic range. Instead, neutral genetic diversity is negatively correlated with body size and positively with the length of the genetic map. This suggests that genetic diversity is determined both by differences in long-term population size and the effect of selection on linked sites.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11308-4

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