Study of gene flow across Sylvia curruca complex taxa (Passeriformes; Aves)

Background and Aim: The genetic basis of speciation, lack of diagnostic differentiating characters and contradiction between morphological and genetic data are mayor obstacles in evolutionary biology. The Sylvia curruca complex represents an interesting study system to address this issue. Here, we use whole genome data of this species such as Sylvia curruca, Sylvia minula and Sylvia althaea to investigate the importance of gene-flow in the speciation of this complex.Methods: We used phylogenetic analyses, ABBA-BABA tests, PCA, NgsAdmix and Fst to evaluate gene flow among the Sylvia curruca complex species.Results: The result shows gene flow between S. althaea and S. minula. Also, there is gene flow between S. athaea and curruca. But, there is no gene flow between S. curruca and S. minula.Conclusion: The result shows probably parallel evolution in Sylvia curruca complex.

Keywords:

Population genome , parallel evolution , cryptic speciation , Next Generation Sequencing