该团队跨过澳大利亚湿热带的海拔梯度范围，评估了彩虹鱼(Melanotaenia spp.)近亲物种的环境生态位模型和基因组脆弱性。与纯粹的狭义的地方性物种相比，广泛分布的通才种群和几个恶劣环境中的地方性物种之间的杂交种群，对预测气候的敏感性更低。基因渐渗和自适应基因组区域之间的重叠与自适应基因渐渗的信号一致。研究结果强调，杂交种群的保护价值常常被低估，表明适应性渗透可能有助于在恶劣环境范围内的进行物种的进化拯救。
据悉，在气候变化下，无法通过范围转移追踪生态位的物种在很大程度上依赖于遗传变异来适应和生存。基因组易损性预测的主题是确定缺乏必要变异的种群，特别是在气候相关基因上。然而，杂交作为一种新的适应性变异，在基因组易损性研究中通常被忽视。
附：英文原文
Title: Natural hybridization reduces vulnerability to climate change
Author: Brauer, Chris J., Sandoval-Castillo, Jonathan, Gates, Katie, Hammer, Michael P., Unmack, Peter J., Bernatchez, Louis, Beheregaray, Luciano B.
Issue&Volume: 2023-01-30
Abstract: Under climate change, species unable to track their niche via range shifts are largely reliant on genetic variation to adapt and persist. Genomic vulnerability predictions are used to identify populations that lack the necessary variation, particularly at climate-relevant genes. However, hybridization as a source of novel adaptive variation is typically ignored in genomic vulnerability studies. We estimated environmental niche models and genomic vulnerability for closely related species of rainbowfish (Melanotaenia spp.) across an elevational gradient in the Australian Wet Tropics. Hybrid populations between a widespread generalist and several narrow range endemic species exhibited reduced vulnerability to projected climates compared to pure narrow endemics. Overlaps between introgressed and adaptive genomic regions were consistent with a signal of adaptive introgression. Our findings highlight the often-underappreciated conservation value of hybrid populations and indicate that adaptive introgression may contribute to evolutionary rescue of species with narrow environmental ranges.
DOI: 10.1038/s41558-022-01585-1
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01585-1