The role of chromosomal inversions in the evolution of common quail (Coturnix coturnix) populations

Funded projects

Chromosomal inversions as a mechanism for sympatric differentiation in quails, PID2019-108163GB-I00
Origin and impact of chromosomal inversions on the evolution and physiology of common quails, PID2022-143216NB-I00

Chromosomal inversions result in the linkage of genes through reduced recombination, producing “supergenes”. We have found a very large inversion in some common quails from the south of the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco and archipelagos in the eastern Atlantic. This inversion includes more than 1200 genes and is associated with darker throat coloration, slightly bigger size, rounded wings less suitable suitable for long flight, and reduced migration. The inversion could also be responsible for the uniqueness of Canary Island quails, assumed to be a different subspecies, but quails in other Atlantic archipelagos may be the result of evolution in isolation. However, little is known about the mechanisms of coexistence of quails with and without the inversion and with different migratory patterns inside the same populations

A massive genome inversion drives coexistence of divergent morphs in common quails

Our results show that one very large chromosomal inversion is affecting the genome of common quails in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, Macaronesia and Northern Africa, and that this is associated with differences in pigmentation, size and wing shape. It is also leading differences in migratory behaviour.

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Evolutionary history of an island endemic, the Azorean common quail

Oceanic islands are characterized by conditions that favour diversification into endemic lineages that can be very different from their mainland counterparts. This can be the result of fast phenotypic divergence due to drift or the result of slower adaptation to local conditions. This uniqueness can obscure their evolutionary history. We used morphological, stable isotope, genetic and genomic data to characterize common quails in the Azores archipelago and assess the divergence from neighbouring common quail populations.

Our results show that Azorean quails constitute a well-differentiated lineage with small size and dark throat pigmentation that has lost the migratory ability and that diverged from mainland quail lineages more than 0.8 mya, contrary to the notion of a recent human-mediated arrival. Even though some Azorean quails carry an inversion that affects 115 Mbp of chromosome 1 and that has been associated with the loss of the migratory behaviour in other common quail populations, half of the analysed individuals do not have that inversion and still do not migrate. The long coexistence and evolution in isolation in the Azores of two chromosomal variants (with and without the inversion) is best explained by balancing selection. Thus, a unique and long evolutionary history led to the island endemic that we know today, C. c. conturbans.

Evolutionary history of an island endemic, the Azorean common quail
Ravagni S, Sanchez-Donoso I, Jiménez-Blasco I, Andrade P, Puigcerver M, Chorão Guedes A, Godinho R, Gonçalves D, Leitão M, Leonard JA, Rodríguez-Teijeiro JD, Vilà C (2023)
Molecular Ecology 00, 1– 15

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La sorprendente estructura poblacional de la codorniz

Sanchez-Donoso I, Ravagni S, Jiménez I, Puigcerver M, Rodríguez-Teijeiro JD, Vilà C (2022)
Quercus 439, 12-17

Evolutionary genetics: Inversions — Do not quail but go big!

Dispatch paper in Current Biology by Ishigohoka J & Liedvogel M. January 2022

Referred paper:
Massive genome inversion drives coexistence of divergent morphs in common quails
Sanchez-Donoso I et al. (2020) Current Biology 32, 462-469

Chromosomal rearrangement linked to less mobile quail

The Scientist. December 2021

Referred paper:
Massive genome inversion drives coexistence of divergent morphs in common quails
Sanchez-Donoso I et al. (2020) Current Biology 32, 462-469

Un supergen limita la migración en las codornices

Estación Biológica de Doñana website. November 2021

Referred paper:
Massive genome inversion drives coexistence of divergent morphs in common quails
Sanchez-Donoso I et al. (2020) Current Biology 32, 462-469