Repeated genetic adaptation to high altitude in two tropical butterflies

Abstract

Repeated evolution can provide insight into the mechanisms that facilitate adaptation to novel or changing environments. Here we study adaptation to high altitude in two divergent tropical butterflies, H. erato and H. melpomene, which have repeatedly and independently adapted to high elevations on either side of the Andean mountains. We sequenced 518 whole genomes from elevational transects and found many regions under selection at high altitude, with repeated genetic differentiation across multiple replicates, including allopatric comparisons. In contrast, there is little molecular parallelism between H. erato and H. melpomene. With a further 85 whole genomes of five close relatives, we find that a large proportion divergent regions have arisen from standing variation and putative adaptive introgression from high-altitude specialist species. Taken together our study supports a key role of standing genetic variation and gene flow from pre-adapted species in promoting parallel genetic local adaptation to the environment.