Population genomics data supports introgression between western Iberian Squalius freshwater fish species
AbstractIn freshwater fish, processes of population divergence and speciation are often linked to the geomorphology of rivers and lakes that isolate populations. However, current geographical isolation does not necessarily imply total absence of gene flow during the divergence process. Here, we focused on four species of the genus Squalius in Portuguese rivers: S. carolitertii, S. pyrenaicus, S. aradensis and S. torgalensis. Previous studies based on eight nuclear and mitochondrial markers revealed incongruent patterns, with nuclear loci suggesting that S. pyrenaicus was a paraphyletic group since its northern populations were genetically closer to S. carolitertii than to its southern populations. For the first time, we successfully applied a genomic approach to the study of the relationship between these species, using a Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) approach. Our results revealed a species tree with two main lineages: (i) S. carolitertii and S. pyrenaicus; (ii) S. torgalensis and S. aradensis. Regarding S. carolitertii and S. pyrenaicus, we found evidence for past introgression between the two in the northern part of S. pyrenaicus distribution. This introgression reconciles previous mitochondrial and nuclear incongruent results and explains the apparent paraphyly of S. pyrenaicus. Our demographic modelling estimates are consistent across models, suggesting that the northern populations of S. pyrenaicus received a contribution of approximately 90% from S. carolitertii and 10% from southern S. pyrenaicus. This illustrates that even in freshwater species currently allopatric, we are able to detect past gene flow events in present-day genomes, suggesting speciation is more complex than simply allopatric.