Congratulations to lead author Ellen Nikelski and collaborator Alex Rubtsov on today’s publication of this Molecular Ecology paper:

Nikelski, E., A.S. Rubtsov, and D. Irwin. 2024. A sex chromosome polymorphism maintains divergent plumage phenotypes between extensively hybridizing yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella) and pine buntings (E. leucocephalos). Molecular Ecology, Early View: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17526

The paper shows that the divergent plumages of these two species and their hybrids are largely associated with two distinct types of Z chromosomes (a sex chromosome):

The abstract:
Under allopatric speciation, populations of a species become isolated by a geographic barrier and develop reproductive isolation through genetic differentiation. When populations meet in secondary contact, the strength of evolved reproductive barriers determines the extent of hybridization and whether the populations will continue to diverge or merge together. The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) and pine bunting (E. leucocephalos) are avian sister species that diverged in allopatry on either side of Eurasia during the Pleistocene glaciations. Though they differ greatly in plumage and form distinct genetic clusters in allopatry, these taxa show negligible mitochondrial DNA differentiation and hybridize extensively where they overlap in central Siberia, lending uncertainty to the state of reproductive isolation in the system. To assess the strength of reproductive barriers between taxa, we examined genomic differentiation across the system. We found that extensive admixture has occurred in sympatry, indicating that reproductive barriers between taxa are weak. We also identified a putative Z chromosome inversion region that underlies plumage variation in the system, with the ‘pine bunting’ haplotype showing dominance over the ‘yellowhammer’ haplotype. Our results suggest that yellowhammers and pine buntings are currently at a crossroads and that evolutionary forces may push this system towards either continued differentiation or population merging. However, even if these taxa merge, recombination suppression between putative chromosome Z inversion haplotypes may maintain divergent plumage phenotypes within the system. In this way, our findings highlight the important role hybridization plays in increasing the genetic and phenotypic variation as well as the evolvability of a system.

This is the second paper from Ellen’s MSc thesis. Ellen is now a PhD student in Jason Weir’s group at the University of Toronto Scarborough.