Supplementary material from "Hybridization with wild individuals fuels reindeer feralization"

Le résumé fourni par la source

Domestication has profoundly influenced the development of human agriculture, and is characterized by intense artificial selection. Feralization occurs when domestic animals return to the wild. While feralization does not fully reverse domestication traits, the selective pressures and evolutionary mechanisms driving feralization remain poorly understood. In northern Europe and Asia, wild, semi-domesticated, and feral reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) populations coexist, offering a unique opportunity to study feralization. We studied genomic signatures of selection in semi-domesticated, feral, and wild reindeer populations in Norway. Analysis of population structure confirmed historical records that the feral population formed a monophyletic clade and originated from neighbouring semi-domesticated reindeer. We also found evidence for excess allele sharing between wild and feral reindeer, indicating hybridization between lineages. Signatures of selection were identified by a top-down approach (orthologs of domestication candidate genes) and a bottom-up approach (FST and extended haplotypes), finding that these regions have higher rates of excess allele sharing in wild and feral populations. This provides the first evidence of reversed selection pressures during feralization in reindeer and reveals a link between selection and hybridization. Together, our findings suggest that hybridization likely promoted adaptive introgression during feralization. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of conserving the genetic integrity of endangered wild reindeer populations.

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