Natural Selection and Origin of a Melanistic Allele in North American Gray Wolves Rena M. Schweizer,*,1,2 Arun Durvasula,3 Joel Smith,4 Samuel H. Vohr,5 Daniel R. Stahler,6 Marco Galaverni,7 Olaf Thalmann,8 Douglas W. Smith,6 Ettore Randi,9,10 Elaine A. Ostrander,11 Richard E. Green,5 Kirk E. Lohmueller,2,3 John Novembre,4,12 and Robert K. Wayne*,2 1Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 3Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 4Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 5Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 6Yellowstone Center for Resources, National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park, WY 7Conservation Area, World Wildlife Fund Italy, Rome, Italy 8Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland 9Department of Biology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy 10Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark 11National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 12Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, IL *Corresponding authors: E-mails:
[email protected];
[email protected]. Associate editor:DeepaAgashe Abstract Pigmentationisoftenusedtounderstandhownaturalselectionaffectsgeneticvariationinwildpopulationssinceitcan have a simple genetic basis, and can affect a variety of fitness-related traits (e.g., camouflage, thermoregulation, and sexual display). In gray wolves, the K locus, a b-defensin gene, causes black coat color via a dominantly inherited KB allele. The allele is derived from dog-wolf hybridization and is at high frequency in North American wolf populations.