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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe MONKEYFLOWER ADAPTATION MECHANISM Chromosomal inversions are thought to contribute to adaptation and speciation, as they can lead to hybrid
sterility. Now, David Lowry and John Willis report an adaptive inversion polymorphism in the yellow monkeyflower _Mimulus guttatus_ (_PLoS Biol._ 8, e1000500, 2010). They initially observed
suppression of recombination at a large effect, pleiotropic quantitative trait locus in crosses between inland-annual and coastal-perennial populations. In-depth genotyping of more crosses
between geographically distinct inland-annual and coastal-perennial populations showed evidence for a chromosomal inversion linked to ecotype. This inversion contributes to adaptive
flowering time differences between annual and perennial populations. To test if this inversion polymorphism affects adaptation in the wild, the authors introgressed alternative inversion
arrangements into outbred annual and perennial backgrounds and performed reciprocal transplant experiments. Fitness was measured as survival to flowering and number of flowers produced per
plant, and the effect of the inversion was significant. For example, at the inland field site, survival to flowering in plants with the coastal genetic background and the inland annual
inversion was eight times greater than that of coastal plants with the coastal perennial inversion. The authors suggest that this inversion may directly contribute to reproductive isolation
between annual and perennial ecotypes, consistent with the theory that local adaptation can facilitate the maintenance of chromosomal rearrangements and promote speciation. _PC_ This is a
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THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Research highlights. _Nat Genet_ 42, 929 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1110-929 Download citation * Published: 27 October 2010 * Issue Date: November 2010
* DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1110-929 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not
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