Local genetic adaptation to habitat in wild chimpanzees

Citation

Ostridge HJ, Fontsere C, Lizano E, Soto DC, Schmidt JM, Saxena V, Alvarez-Estape M, Barratt CD, Gratton P, Bocksberger G, Lester JD, Dieguez P, Agbor A, Jeffery K & Orbell C (2024) Local genetic adaptation to habitat in wild chimpanzees. Science.

Abstract
How populations adapt to their environment is a fundamental question in biology. Yet we know surprisingly little about this process, especially for endangered species such as non-human great apes. Chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, are particularly interesting because they inhabit diverse habitats, from rainforest to woodland-savannah. Whether genetic adaptation facilitates such habitat diversity remains unknown, despite having wide implications for evolutionary biology and conservation. Using 828 new exomes from wild chimpanzees (388 post-filtering), we find evidence of fine-scale genetic adaptation to habitat, with signatures of positive selection in forest chimpanzees in the same genes underlying adaptation to malaria in humans. This work demonstrates the power of non-invasive samples to reveal genetic adaptations in endangered populations and highlights the importance of adaptive genetic diversity for chimpanzees.

Notes
Additional co-authors: Samuel Angedakin, Alfred Kwabena Assumang, Emma Bailey, Donatienne Barubiyo, Mattia Bessone, Gregory Brazzola, Rebecca Chancellor, Heather Cohen, Charlotte Coupland, Emmanuel Danquah, Tobias Deschner, Laia Dotras, Jef Dupain, Villard Ebot Egbe, Anne-Céline Granjon, Josephine Head, Daniela Hedwig, Veerle Hermans, R. Adriana Hernandez-Aguilar, Sorrel Jones, Jessica Junker, Parag Kadam, Michael Kaiser, Ammie K. Kalan, Mbangi Kambere, Ivonne Kienast, Deo Kujirakwinja, Kevin E. Langergraber, Juan Lapuente, Bradley Larson, Anne Laudisoit, Kevin C. Lee, Manuel Llana, Giovanna Maretti, Rumen Martín, Amelia C. Meier, David Morgan, Emily Neil, Sonia Nicholl, Stuart Nixon, Emmanuelle Normand, Lucy Jayne Ormsby, Robinson Orume, Liliana Pacheco, Jodie Preece, Sebastien Regnaut, Martha M. Robbins, Aaron Rundus, Crickette Sanz, Lilah Sciaky, Volker Sommer, Fiona A. Stewart, Nikki Tagg, Luc Roscelin Tédonzong, Joost van Schijndel, Elleni Vendras, Erin G. Wessling, Jacob Willie, Roman M. Wittig, Yisa Ginath Yuh, Kyle Yurkiw, Linda Vigilant, Alex K. Piel, Christophe Boesch, Hjalmar S. Kühl, Megan Y. Dennis, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Mimi Arandjelovic and Aida M. Andrés

Journal
Science