The molecular evolutionary process of speciation by a magic trait

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26711024
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Hoso Masaki 京都大学, 白眉センター, 特定助教 (80557695)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 種分化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

"Magic traits", which are traits that simultaneously affect both adaptation and reproductive isolation, are known to work as a simple mechanism of speciation. Among them, the chirality of land snails has a unique advantage in that the trait status is determined by a single gene. In this research project, I conducted ecological survey, phylogeographical analyses, and crossing experiments on the species complex of the genus Satsuma in SE Taiwan, aiming to elucidate the evolutionary process of the snail chirality at the molecular level. The results suggested its complex evolutionary history beyond the original expectation, prohibiting further analyses for the identification of the responsible gene, but supported that they originated in parallel by the same gene.

Free Research Field

進化生物学