Colloque - Integrating Evolutionary Genetics and Ecology : The Genomic Basis of a Repeatedly Evolving Sexually-Selected Syndrome in Mediterranean Wall Lizards

Virginie Courtier-OrgogozoBiodiversité et écosystèmes (2022-2023)Collège de FranceColloque - Integrating Evolutionary Genetics and Ecology : The Genomic Basis of a Repeatedly Evolving Sexually-Selected Syndrome in Mediterranean Wall LizardsTraits can only function together if expressed together, but the evolution of such phenotypic integration remains poorly understood. In this talk, I will present our recent work on the evolutionary origin and geographic spread of a sexually selected syndrome in wall lizards. Climatic effects on the strength of sexual selection causes a mosaic of phenotypic variation across the landscape, and promotes asymmetric introgression into a distantly related lineage. The phenotypic integration of color, morphology, and behavior persists throughout a hybrid zone, pointing towards a genetic architecture with a single or few major loci. Analyses of genomic data supports this hypothesis and reveals a single candidate region with striking structural variations. I discuss how this genomic architecture can orchestrate the expression of color, morphology, and behavior, and what it can teach us about the evolution of complex phenotypes.Nathalie Feiner is currently a researcher at Lund University, Sweden. After completing her PhD on comparative vertebrate genomics at the University of Konstanz, Germany, she conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, UK, as a Humboldt fellow and at Lund University as a Wennergren fellow. Since 2021, Nathalie Feiner is a group leader at Lund University and pursues research at the intersection of developmental biology, phenomics, genomics and ecology. A major them in her research is the question of how developmental processes shape evolutionary outcomes, and why evolution tends to repeat itself.