title: A phylogenetic analysis of macroevolutionary patterns in fermentative yeasts.
abstract: When novel sources of ecological opportunity are available, physiological innovations can trigger adaptive radiations. This could be the case of yeasts (Saccharomycotina), in which an evolutionary novelty is represented by the capacity to exploit simple sugars from fruits (fermentation). During adaptive radiations, diversification and morphological evolution are predicted to slow-down after early bursts of diversification. Here, we performed the first comparative phylogenetic analysis in yeasts, testing the "early burst" prediction on species diversification and also on traits of putative ecological relevance (cell-size and fermentation versatility). We found that speciation rates are constant during the time-range we considered (ca., 150 millions of years). Phylogenetic signal of both traits was significant (but lower for cell-size), suggesting that lineages resemble each other in trait-values. Disparity analysis suggested accelerated evolution (diversification in trait values above Brownian Motion expectations) in cell-size. We also found a significant phylogenetic regression between cell-size and fermentation versatility (R (2) = 0.10), which suggests correlated evolution between both traits. Overall, our results do not support the early burst prediction both in species and traits, but suggest a number of interesting evolutionary patterns, that warrant further exploration. For instance, we show that the Whole Genomic Duplication that affected a whole clade of yeasts, does not seems to have a statistically detectable phenotypic effect at our level of analysis. In this regard, further studies of fermentation under common-garden conditions combined with comparative analyses are warranted.
authors: Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia 5090000 Chile.
authors: Rocío
authors: R
authors: Paleo-López
authors: Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia 5090000 Chile.
authors: Julian F
authors: JF
authors: Quintero-Galvis
authors: Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia 5090000 Chile.
authors: Jaiber J
authors: JJ
authors: Solano-Iguaran
authors: Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia 5090000 Chile.
authors: Angela M
authors: AM
authors: Sanchez-Salazar
authors: Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia 5090000 Chile; CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere GPO Box 1538 Hobart 7001 Tasmania Australia.
authors: Juan D
authors: JD
authors: Gaitan-Espitia
authors: Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia 5090000 Chile; Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES) Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago 6513677 Chile.
authors: Roberto F
authors: RF
authors: Nespolo
keywords: Adaptive radiation; Saccharomicotina; comparative method; fermentation; phylogenetic signal