Repeated species radiations in the recent evolution of the key marine phytoplankton lineage Gephyrocapsa

El Mahdi Bendif, Bruno Nevado, Edgar L. Y. Wong, Kyoko Hagino, Ian Probert, Jeremy R. Young, Rosalind E. M. Rickaby and Dmitry A. Filatov ()
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El Mahdi Bendif: University of Oxford
Bruno Nevado: University of Oxford
Edgar L. Y. Wong: University of Oxford
Kyoko Hagino: Kochi University
Ian Probert: Sorbonne Université - CNRS, Roscoff Culture Collection, FR2424 Station Biologique de Roscoff
Jeremy R. Young: University College London
Rosalind E. M. Rickaby: University of Oxford
Dmitry A. Filatov: University of Oxford

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

Abstract: Abstract Phytoplankton account for nearly half of global primary productivity and strongly affect the global carbon cycle, yet little is known about the forces that drive the evolution of these keystone microscopic organisms. Here we combine morphometric data from the fossil record of the ubiquitous coccolithophore genus Gephyrocapsa with genomic analyses of extant species to assess the genetic processes underlying Pleistocene palaeontological patterns. We demonstrate that all modern diversity in Gephyrocapsa (including Emiliania huxleyi) originated in a rapid species radiation during the last 0.6 Ma, coincident with the latest of the three pulses of Gephyrocapsa diversification and extinction documented in the fossil record. Our evolutionary genetic analyses indicate that new species in this genus have formed in sympatry or parapatry, with occasional hybridisation between species. This sheds light on the mode of speciation during evolutionary radiation of marine phytoplankton and provides a model of how new plankton species form.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12169-7

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