Beyond supergenes: the diverse roles of inversions in trait evolution

Chromosomal inversions are ubiquitous across the Tree of Life, with genome-wide studies revealing a bias toward smaller inversions, yet research has disproportionately focused on large, supergene-like inversions linked to discrete phenotypes. This limits our understanding of inversions' roles in trait evolution, as their size affects their potential functional impact. Investigation of smaller inversions and multi-inversion genotypes is crucial to elucidate their role in shaping continuous traits and evolutionary adaptation. Addressing this requires a shift towards a systematic study of smaller inversions and the use of experimental assays and functional annotation to identify the evolutionary forces driving different genomic trait architectures.