Macroevolutionary diversity of traits and genomes in the model yeast genus Saccharomyces
Species is the fundamental unit to quantify biodiversity. In recent years, the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has seen an increased number of studies related to its geographical distribution, population structure, and phenotypic diversity. However, seven additional species from the same genus have been less thoroughly studied, which has limited our understanding of the macroevolutionary events leading to the diversification of this genus over the last 20 million years. Here, we show the geographies, hosts, substrates, and phylogenetic relationships for approximately 1,800 Saccharomyces strains, covering the complete genus with unprecedented breadth and depth. We generated and analyzed complete genome sequences of 163 strains and phenotyped 128 phylogenetically diverse strains. This dataset provides insights about genetic and phenotypic diversity within and between species and populations, quantifies reticulation and incomplete lineage sorting, and demonstrates how gene flow and selection have affected traits, such as galactose metabolism. These findings elevate the genus Saccharomyces as a model to understand biodiversity and evolution in microbial eukaryotes.
Assemblies, raw data, scripts and command lines to perform analyses are described in https://github.com/PerisD/Sac2.0
Funding
BCV-2021-1-0001 - University of Valencia
CIDEGENT/2021/039 - Generalitat Valenciana
RCN 324253 - Research Council of Norway
RCN 274337 - Research Council of Norway
DGE-1256259 - National Science Foundation
5T32GM007133 - National Institutes of Health
Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
Office of Biological and Environmental Research
Find out more...Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
Office of Biological and Environmental Research
Find out more...Generating yeast biodiversity by mitochondrial introgression for wine innovation
European Commission
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