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Badyaev AV, Potticary AL, Morrison ES. Most Colorful Example of Genetic Assimilation? Exploring the Evolutionary Destiny of Recurrent Phenotypic Accommodation. Am Nat 2017; 190:266-280. [PMID: 28731798 DOI: 10.1086/692327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Evolution of adaptation requires both generation of novel phenotypic variation and retention of a locally beneficial subset of this variation. Such retention can be facilitated by genetic assimilation, the accumulation of genetic and molecular mechanisms that stabilize induced phenotypes and assume progressively greater control over their reliable production. A particularly strong inference into genetic assimilation as an evolutionary process requires a system where it is possible to directly evaluate the extent to which an induced phenotype is progressively incorporated into preexisting developmental pathways. Evolution of diet-dependent pigmentation in birds-where external carotenoids are coopted into internal metabolism to a variable degree before being integrated with a feather's developmental processes-provides such an opportunity. Here we combine a metabolic network view of carotenoid evolution with detailed empirical study of feather modifications to show that the effect of physical properties of carotenoids on feather structure depends on their metabolic modification, their environmental recurrence, and biochemical redundancy, as predicted by the genetic assimilation hypothesis. Metabolized carotenoids caused less stochastic variation in feather structure and were more closely integrated with feather growth than were dietary carotenoids of the same molecular weight. These patterns were driven by the recurrence of organism-carotenoid associations: commonly used dietary carotenoids and biochemically redundant derived carotenoids caused less stochastic variation in feather structure than did rarely used or biochemically unique compounds. We discuss implications of genetic assimilation processes for the evolutionary diversification of diet-dependent animal coloration.
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Oettler J, Nachtigal AL, Schrader L. Expression of the Foraging Gene Is Associated with Age Polyethism, Not Task Preference, in the Ant Cardiocondyla obscurior. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0144699. [PMID: 26650238 PMCID: PMC4674073 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2015] [Accepted: 11/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the fundamental principles of social organization, age polyethism, describes behavioral maturation of workers leading to switches in task preference. Here we present a system that allows for studying division of labor (DOL) by taking advantage of the relative short life of Cardiocondyla obscurior workers and thereby the pace of behavioral transitions. By challenging same-age young and older age cohorts to de novo establish DOL into nurse and foraging tasks and by forcing nurses to precociously become foragers and vice versa we studied expression patterns of one of the best known candidates for social insect worker behavior, the foraging gene. Contrary to our expectations we found that foraging gene expression correlates with age, but not with the task foraging per se. This suggests that this nutrition-related gene, and the pathways it is embedded in, correlates with physiological changes over time and potentially primes, but not determines task preference of individual workers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Oettler
- Institut für Zoologie, Universität Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany
| | | | - Lukas Schrader
- Institut für Zoologie, Universität Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany
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Swaddle JP, Francis CD, Barber JR, Cooper CB, Kyba CCM, Dominoni DM, Shannon G, Aschehoug E, Goodwin SE, Kawahara AY, Luther D, Spoelstra K, Voss M, Longcore T. A framework to assess evolutionary responses to anthropogenic light and sound. Trends Ecol Evol 2015; 30:550-60. [PMID: 26169593 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2015.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 163] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2015] [Revised: 06/11/2015] [Accepted: 06/16/2015] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Human activities have caused a near-ubiquitous and evolutionarily-unprecedented increase in environmental sound levels and artificial night lighting. These stimuli reorganize communities by interfering with species-specific perception of time-cues, habitat features, and auditory and visual signals. Rapid evolutionary changes could occur in response to light and noise, given their magnitude, geographical extent, and degree to which they represent unprecedented environmental conditions. We present a framework for investigating anthropogenic light and noise as agents of selection, and as drivers of other evolutionary processes, to influence a range of behavioral and physiological traits such as phenological characters and sensory and signaling systems. In this context, opportunities abound for understanding contemporary and rapid evolution in response to human-caused environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Caren B Cooper
- North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Christopher C M Kyba
- Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ and Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Potsdam, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Travis Longcore
- University of Southern California and The Urban Wildlands Group, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Kopp M, Matuszewski S. Rapid evolution of quantitative traits: theoretical perspectives. Evol Appl 2014; 7:169-91. [PMID: 24454555 PMCID: PMC3894905 DOI: 10.1111/eva.12127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 133] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2013] [Accepted: 09/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
An increasing number of studies demonstrate phenotypic and genetic changes in natural populations that are subject to climate change, and there is hope that some of these changes will contribute to avoiding species extinctions ('evolutionary rescue'). Here, we review theoretical models of rapid evolution in quantitative traits that can shed light on the potential for adaptation to a changing climate. Our focus is on quantitative-genetic models with selection for a moving phenotypic optimum. We point out that there is no one-to-one relationship between the rate of adaptation and population survival, because the former depends on relative fitness and the latter on absolute fitness. Nevertheless, previous estimates that sustainable rates of genetically based change usually do not exceed 0.1 haldanes (i.e., phenotypic standard deviations per generation) are probably correct. Survival can be greatly facilitated by phenotypic plasticity, and heritable variation in plasticity can further speed up genetic evolution. Multivariate selection and genetic correlations are frequently assumed to constrain adaptation, but this is not necessarily the case and depends on the geometric relationship between the fitness landscape and the structure of genetic variation. Similar conclusions hold for adaptation to shifting spatial gradients. Recent models of adaptation in multispecies communities indicate that the potential for rapid evolution is strongly influenced by interspecific competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Kopp
- LATP UMR-CNRS 7353, Evolutionary Biology and Modeling Group, Aix Marseille UniversityMarseille, France
| | - Sebastian Matuszewski
- Mathematics and BioSciences Group, Faculty of Mathematics, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
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Abstract
In the past decade, there has been a resurgent interest in whether and how phenotypic plasticity might impact evolutionary processes. Of fundamental importance is how the environment influences individual phenotypic development while simultaneously selecting among phenotypic variants in a population. Conceptual and theoretical treatments of the evolutionary implications of plasticity are numerous, as are criticisms of the conclusions. As such, the time is ripe for empirical evidence to catch up with theoretical predictions. To this end, I provide a summary of eight hypotheses at the core of this issue, highlighting various approaches by which they can be tested. My goal is to provide practical guidance to those seeking to understand the complex ways by which phenotypic plasticity can influence evolutionary innovation and diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A Wund
- Department of Biology, The College of New Jersey, PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ, USA.
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Underappreciated Consequences of Phenotypic Plasticity for Ecological Speciation. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1155/2012/256017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity was once seen primarily as a constraint on adaptive evolution or merely a nuisance by geneticists. However, some biologists promote plasticity as a source of novelty and a factor in evolution on par with mutation, drift, gene flow, and selection. These claims are controversial and largely untested, but progress has been made on more modest questions about effects of plasticity on local adaptation (the first component of ecological speciation). Adaptive phenotypic plasticity can be a buffer against divergent selection. It can also facilitate colonization of new niches and rapid divergent evolution. The influence of non-adaptive plasticity has been underappreciated. Non-adaptive plasticity, too can interact with selection to promote or inhibit genetic differentiation. Finally, phenotypic plasticity of reproductive characters might directly influence evolution of reproductive isolation (the second component of ecological speciation). Plasticity can cause assortative mating, but its influence on gene flow ultimately depends on maintenance of environmental similarity between parents and offspring. Examples of plasticity influencing mating and habitat choice suggest that this, too, might be an underappreciated factor in speciation. Plasticity is an important consideration for studies of speciation in nature, and this topic promises fertile ground for integrating developmental biology with ecology and evolution.
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