Participation in the X Congress of the Spanish Society for Evolutionary Biology (SESBE)
Between January 21st and 23rd, 2026, our predoctoral researcher Álvaro Pita participated in the X Congress of the Spanish Society for Evolutionary Biology (SESBE), held at the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia (Valencia), where he presented the population genomics studies developed within the CONSIBERTROMICS project.
The abstract of our presentation is included below:
Title: Genomic insights into the evolutionary structure of Iberian brown trout (Salmo trutta ) lineages
Authors: Álvaro Pita, Manuel Vera, David Diez del Molino, Sandra Heras, Jordi Morata, Raúl Tonda, Dorte Bekkevold, Adrián Casanova, Alba Abras, Maria Inés Roldán, Jose Luis García-Marin
Abstract: The brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) is a salmonid fish species that exhibits high genetic and geographic structuring. In the Iberian Peninsula, sequencing of the mitochondrial control region identified four evolutionary lineages: Adriatic (AD), Mediterranean (ME), Atlantic (AT), and the endemic Duero (DU). While the IUCN now restricts S. trutta to Atlantic populations, Spanish legislation still classifies all four lineages under a single species. As a result, Mediterranean populations encompassing the AD and ME lineages and the endemic Duero trout remain taxonomically included within S. trutta, listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, which hinders conservation efforts and may promote hybridization with non-native hatchery stocks. To investigate evolutionary relationships between Iberian and other European trout, we resequenced the genomes of 40 individuals—26 from Spain and 14 from other European regions—using Illumina NovaSeq6000, with Salmo marmoratus as an outgroup. Reads were mapped to the S. trutta reference genome (fSalTru1.2; GCF_901001165.2) to identify SNPs. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial genomes, combined with GenBank data, confirmed the distinctiveness of the Iberian lineages but also revealed that some branches encompassed previously described Salmo species. Nuclear phylogenies based on 4 million SNPs further supported the deep differentiation between Atlantic and Mediterranean trout, although divergences did not completely align with mitochondrial patterns. Moreover, several Spanish populations showed clear signatures of introgression from hatchery strains, highlighting the genetic impact of stocking practices.
