Elevational Adaptation in the Moth Thitarodes xiaojinensis : HSP60A ‐Mediated Thermal Tolerance Evolution Under Gene Flow
- 1Chongqing University of Chinese Medicine Chongqing China
- 2Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica Chongqing China
- 3Glbizzia Biosciences Beijing China
Abstract
Climate warming intensifies thermal selection on high‐elevation species, yet the molecular mechanisms enabling rapid adaptation under ongoing gene flow remain poorly understood. We examined differentiation between High‐elevation (High) and Low‐elevation (Low) ecotype samples of Thitarodes xiaojinensis , an endemic ghost moth of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, using SLAF‐seq, RNA‐seq profiling and survival experiments. Phylogenetic analyses confirm the two ecotype samples are conspecific, and they differ in forewing phenotype. Population structure at K = 2 uncovers elevation‐correlated clustering despite weak genome‐wide structure (optimal K = 1). Genome‐wide F ST scans (Weir & Cockerham) identify HSP60A as a prominent outlier locus ( F ST = 0.391, top 1.4% of genome‐wide windows). Targeted PCR amplification and sequencing confirmed a nonsense mutation (Glu378*) in the HSP60A coding sequence. This derived allele was carried by 80% (4/5) of Low individuals and by none of 5 High individuals (0 of 10 chromosome copies, one‐sided 95% upper bound on allele frequency ≈ 26%), suggesting that it is associated with incipient ecological divergence between the two ecotypes. Co‐expression network analysis grouped the chaperone genes into two systems with divergent thermal responses. The small HSPs were induced 2.3‐fold from 8°C to 16°C, whereas the classical chaperones were not induced, and HSP60A was consistently placed within the latter (median biweight midcorrelation +0.56 with classical chaperones versus −0.27 with small HSPs , p = 3.5 × 10 ⁻⁹ ). Across the three temperatures the Low ecotype expressed HSP60A at lower levels than the High ecotype, significant under log ₂ (TPM + 1) ( p = 0.020) but not under the other two scales, and survived better at 16°C ( p = 0.0342). These results link a coding variant at HSP60A , its lower transcript level in the Low ecotype and the better survival of that ecotype at 16°C, and identify HSP60A as a candidate locus for ecotype‐informed conservation of the Ophiocordyceps sinensis host insect.
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BibTeX
@article{wei2026elevational,
title = {{Elevational Adaptation in the Moth Thitarodes xiaojinensis : HSP60A ‐Mediated Thermal Tolerance Evolution Under Gene Flow}},
author = {Qiuyang Wei and Yuanchuan He and Shuai Pang and Shijiang Chen},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74635},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74635},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Elevational Adaptation in the Moth Thitarodes xiaojinensis : HSP60A ‐Mediated Thermal Tolerance Evolution Under Gene Flow
AU - Qiuyang Wei
AU - Yuanchuan He
AU - Shuai Pang
AU - Shijiang Chen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/09
JO - Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74635
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74635
AB - Climate warming intensifies thermal selection on high‐elevation species, yet the molecular mechanisms enabling rapid adaptation under ongoing gene flow remain poorly understood. We examined differentiation between High‐elevation (High) and Low‐elevation (Low) ecotype samples of Thitarodes xiaojinensis , an endemic ghost moth of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, using SLAF‐seq, RNA‐seq profiling and survival experiments. Phylogenetic analyses confirm the two ecotype samples are conspecific, and they differ in forewing phenotype. Population structure at K = 2 uncovers elevation‐correlated clustering despite weak genome‐wide structure (optimal K = 1). Genome‐wide F ST scans (Weir & Cockerham) identify HSP60A as a prominent outlier locus ( F ST = 0.391, top 1.4% of genome‐wide windows). Targeted PCR amplification and sequencing confirmed a nonsense mutation (Glu378*) in the HSP60A coding sequence. This derived allele was carried by 80% (4/5) of Low individuals and by none of 5 High individuals (0 of 10 chromosome copies, one‐sided 95% upper bound on allele frequency ≈ 26%), suggesting that it is associated with incipient ecological divergence between the two ecotypes. Co‐expression network analysis grouped the chaperone genes into two systems with divergent thermal responses. The small HSPs were induced 2.3‐fold from 8°C to 16°C, whereas the classical chaperones were not induced, and HSP60A was consistently placed within the latter (median biweight midcorrelation +0.56 with classical chaperones versus −0.27 with small HSPs , p = 3.5 × 10 ⁻⁹ ). Across the three temperatures the Low ecotype expressed HSP60A at lower levels than the High ecotype, significant under log ₂ (TPM + 1) ( p = 0.020) but not under the other two scales, and survived better at 16°C ( p = 0.0342). These results link a coding variant at HSP60A , its lower transcript level in the Low ecotype and the better survival of that ecotype at 16°C, and identify HSP60A as a candidate locus for ecotype‐informed conservation of the Ophiocordyceps sinensis host insect.
SN - 2045-7758
SN - 2045-7758
ER -