1
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Gutiérrez-Guerrero YT, Phifer-Rixey M, Nachman MW. Across two continents: The genomic basis of environmental adaptation in house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) from the Americas. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011036. [PMID: 38968323 PMCID: PMC11253941 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Replicated clines across environmental gradients can be strong evidence of adaptation. House mice (Mus musculus domesticus) were introduced to the Americas by European colonizers and are now widely distributed from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. Multiple aspects of climate, such as temperature, vary predictably across latitude in the Americas. Past studies of North American populations across latitudinal gradients provided evidence of environmental adaptation in traits related to body size, metabolism, and behavior and identified candidate genes using selection scans. Here, we investigate genomic signals of environmental adaptation on a second continent, South America, and ask whether there is evidence of parallel adaptation across multiple latitudinal transects in the Americas. We first identified loci across the genome showing signatures of selection related to climatic variation in mice sampled across a latitudinal transect in South America, accounting for neutral population structure. Consistent with previous results, most candidate SNPs were in putatively regulatory regions. Genes that contained the most extreme outliers relate to traits such as body weight or size, metabolism, immunity, fat, eye function, and the cardiovascular system. We then compared these results with the results of analyses of published data from two transects in North America. While most candidate genes were unique to individual transects, we found significant overlap among candidate genes identified independently in the three transects. These genes are diverse, with functions relating to metabolism, immunity, cardiac function, and circadian rhythm, among others. We also found parallel shifts in allele frequency in candidate genes across latitudinal gradients. Finally, combining data from all three transects, we identified several genes associated with variation in body weight. Overall, our results provide strong evidence of shared responses to selection and identify genes that likely underlie recent environmental adaptation in house mice across North and South America.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yocelyn T. Gutiérrez-Guerrero
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Megan Phifer-Rixey
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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2
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Xu M, Wang G, Liu P, He Z, He K, Cheng Z, Wang Z, Chen W, Li Z, Zhang L. Age structure and body size of two Tibetan toad ( Bufo tibetanus) populations from different elevations in China. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11559. [PMID: 38863720 PMCID: PMC11165260 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding how age and body size vary across elevations can provide insights into the evolution of life-history traits in animals. In the present study, we compared the demographic (using skeletochronology) and morphological traits of the Tibetan toad (Bufo tibetanus) between two populations from different elevational habitats (2650 vs. 3930 m). We found that (1) the mean age and body size of females were significantly greater than those of males in both populations; (2) both sexes of toads from the higher elevation tended to be significantly older in age and larger in body size; (3) there was a significant positive relationship between age and body size within each sex of the toad at both elevations; and (4) growth rates varied between the two populations, with the higher rate observed in the lower-elevation population. Our results suggested that factors other than age, such as elevation-associated temperature, influence the observed differences in body size between the two populations. Future research at a broader range of elevations should focus on these factors and evaluate their influence on animal growth patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengshuang Xu
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
| | - Gege Wang
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
| | - Putong Liu
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
| | - Zhuolin He
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
| | - Kaiqin He
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
| | - Zhiqiang Cheng
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
| | - Ziqi Wang
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
| | - Wei Chen
- School of Resources and Environmental EngineeringAnhui UniversityHefeiAnhuiChina
| | - Zhibing Li
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
- The Observation and Research Field Station of Taihang Mountain Forest Ecosystems of Henan Province, Puyang Field Scientific Observation and Research Station for Yellow River Wetland Ecosystem and Research Center for ecological management and protection of the Yellow River BasinHenanChina
| | - Lixia Zhang
- Department of Ecology, College of Life SciencesHenan Normal UniversityXinxiangHenanChina
- The Observation and Research Field Station of Taihang Mountain Forest Ecosystems of Henan Province, Puyang Field Scientific Observation and Research Station for Yellow River Wetland Ecosystem and Research Center for ecological management and protection of the Yellow River BasinHenanChina
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3
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Dumont BL, Gatti DM, Ballinger MA, Lin D, Phifer-Rixey M, Sheehan MJ, Suzuki TA, Wooldridge LK, Frempong HO, Lawal RA, Churchill GA, Lutz C, Rosenthal N, White JK, Nachman MW. Into the Wild: A novel wild-derived inbred strain resource expands the genomic and phenotypic diversity of laboratory mouse models. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011228. [PMID: 38598567 PMCID: PMC11034653 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The laboratory mouse has served as the premier animal model system for both basic and preclinical investigations for over a century. However, laboratory mice capture only a subset of the genetic variation found in wild mouse populations, ultimately limiting the potential of classical inbred strains to uncover phenotype-associated variants and pathways. Wild mouse populations are reservoirs of genetic diversity that could facilitate the discovery of new functional and disease-associated alleles, but the scarcity of commercially available, well-characterized wild mouse strains limits their broader adoption in biomedical research. To overcome this barrier, we have recently developed, sequenced, and phenotyped a set of 11 inbred strains derived from wild-caught Mus musculus domesticus. Each of these "Nachman strains" immortalizes a unique wild haplotype sampled from one of five environmentally distinct locations across North and South America. Whole genome sequence analysis reveals that each strain carries between 4.73-6.54 million single nucleotide differences relative to the GRCm39 mouse reference, with 42.5% of variants in the Nachman strain genomes absent from current classical inbred mouse strain panels. We phenotyped the Nachman strains on a customized pipeline to assess the scope of disease-relevant neurobehavioral, biochemical, physiological, metabolic, and morphological trait variation. The Nachman strains exhibit significant inter-strain variation in >90% of 1119 surveyed traits and expand the range of phenotypic diversity captured in classical inbred strain panels. These novel wild-derived inbred mouse strain resources are set to empower new discoveries in both basic and preclinical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beth L. Dumont
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, The University of Maine, Orono, Maine, United States of America
| | - Daniel M. Gatti
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
| | - Mallory A. Ballinger
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Dana Lin
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Megan Phifer-Rixey
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Michael J. Sheehan
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Taichi A. Suzuki
- College of Health Solutions and Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Lydia K. Wooldridge
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
| | - Hilda Opoku Frempong
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
- Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, The University of Maine, Orono, Maine, United States of America
| | - Raman Akinyanju Lawal
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
| | - Gary A. Churchill
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, The University of Maine, Orono, Maine, United States of America
| | - Cathleen Lutz
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
| | - Nadia Rosenthal
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, The University of Maine, Orono, Maine, United States of America
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jacqueline K. White
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Department of Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and Center for Computational Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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4
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Nord A, Persson E, Tabh JKR, Thoral E. Shrinking body size may not provide meaningful thermoregulatory benefits in a warmer world. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:387-389. [PMID: 38225428 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02307-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Nord
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Elin Persson
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund, Sweden
| | - Joshua K R Tabh
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund, Sweden
| | - Elisa Thoral
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund, Sweden
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5
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Folkertsma R, Charbonnel N, Henttonen H, Heroldová M, Huitu O, Kotlík P, Manzo E, Paijmans JLA, Plantard O, Sándor AD, Hofreiter M, Eccard JA. Genomic signatures of climate adaptation in bank voles. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e10886. [PMID: 38455148 PMCID: PMC10918726 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Evidence for divergent selection and adaptive variation across the landscape can provide insight into a species' ability to adapt to different environments. However, despite recent advances in genomics, it remains difficult to detect the footprints of climate-mediated selection in natural populations. Here, we analysed ddRAD sequencing data (21,892 SNPs) in conjunction with geographic climate variation to search for signatures of adaptive differentiation in twelve populations of the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) distributed across Europe. To identify the loci subject to selection associated with climate variation, we applied multiple genotype-environment association methods, two univariate and one multivariate, and controlled for the effect of population structure. In total, we identified 213 candidate loci for adaptation, 74 of which were located within genes. In particular, we identified signatures of selection in candidate genes with functions related to lipid metabolism and the immune system. Using the results of redundancy analysis, we demonstrated that population history and climate have joint effects on the genetic variation in the pan-European metapopulation. Furthermore, by examining only candidate loci, we found that annual mean temperature is an important factor shaping adaptive genetic variation in the bank vole. By combining landscape genomic approaches, our study sheds light on genome-wide adaptive differentiation and the spatial distribution of variants underlying adaptive variation influenced by local climate in bank voles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Remco Folkertsma
- Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of PotsdamPotsdamGermany
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research InstituteUniversity of Veterinary Medicine ViennaViennaAustria
| | | | | | - Marta Heroldová
- Department of Forest Ecology, FFWTMendel University in BrnoBrnoCzech Republic
| | - Otso Huitu
- Natural Resources Institute FinlandHelsinkiFinland
| | - Petr Kotlík
- Laboratory of Molecular Ecology, Institute of Animal Physiology and GeneticsCzech Academy of SciencesLiběchovCzech Republic
| | - Emiliano Manzo
- Fondazione Ethoikos, Convento dell'OsservanzaRadicondoliItaly
| | - Johanna L. A. Paijmans
- Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of PotsdamPotsdamGermany
- Present address:
Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of ZoologyUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | | | - Attila D. Sándor
- HUN‐RENClimate Change: New Blood‐Sucking Parasites and Vector‐Borne Pathogens Research GroupBudapestHungary
- Department of Parasitology and ZoologyUniversity of Veterinary MedicineBudapestHungary
- Department of Parasitology and Parasitic DiseasesUniversity of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary MedicineCluj‐NapocaRomania
| | - Michael Hofreiter
- Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of PotsdamPotsdamGermany
| | - Jana A. Eccard
- Animal Ecology, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Faculty of ScienceBerlin‐Brandenburg Institute for Biodiversity ResearchUniversity of PotsdamPotsdamGermany
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6
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Durkin SM, Ballinger MA, Nachman MW. Tissue-specific and cis-regulatory changes underlie parallel, adaptive gene expression evolution in house mice. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1010892. [PMID: 38306396 PMCID: PMC10866503 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Changes in gene regulation have long been appreciated as a driving force of adaptive evolution, however the relative contributions of cis- and trans-acting changes to gene regulation over short evolutionary timescales remain unclear. Instances of recent, parallel phenotypic evolution provide an opportunity to assess whether parallel patterns are seen at the level of gene expression, and to assess the relative contribution of cis- and trans- changes to gene regulation in the early stages of divergence. Here, we studied gene expression in liver and brown adipose tissue in two wild-derived strains of house mice that independently adapted to cold, northern environments, and we compared them to a strain of house mice from a warm, tropical environment. To investigate gene regulatory evolution, we studied expression in parents and allele-specific expression in F1 hybrids of crosses between warm-adapted and cold-adapted strains. First, we found that the different cold-adapted mice showed both unique and shared changes in expression, but that the proportion of shared changes (i.e. parallelism) was greater than expected by chance. Second, we discovered that expression evolution occurred largely at tissue-specific and cis-regulated genes, and that these genes were over-represented in parallel cases of evolution. Finally, we integrated the expression data with scans for selection in natural populations and found substantial parallelism in the two northern populations for genes under selection. Furthermore, selection outliers were associated with cis-regulated genes more than expected by chance; cis-regulated genes under selection influenced phenotypes such as body size, immune functioning, and activity level. These results demonstrate that parallel patterns of gene expression in mice that have independently adapted to cold environments are driven largely by tissue-specific and cis-regulatory changes, providing insight into the mechanisms of adaptive gene regulatory evolution at the earliest stages of divergence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvia M. Durkin
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Mallory A. Ballinger
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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7
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Persson E, Ó Cuív C, Nord A. Thermoregulatory consequences of growing up during a heatwave or a cold snap in Japanese quail. J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb246876. [PMID: 38073475 PMCID: PMC10906667 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.246876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
Changes in environmental temperature during development can affect growth, metabolism and temperature tolerance of the offspring. We know little about whether such changes remain to adulthood, which is important to understand the links between climate change, development and fitness. We investigated whether phenotypic consequences of the thermal environment in early life remained in adulthood in two studies on Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Birds were raised under simulated heatwave, cold snap or control conditions, from hatching until halfway through the growth period, and then in common garden conditions until reproductively mature. We measured biometric and thermoregulatory [metabolic heat production (MHP), evaporative water and heat loss (EWL, EHL) and body temperature] responses to variation in submaximal air temperature at the end of the thermal acclimation period and in adulthood. Warm birds had lower MHP than control birds at the end of the thermal acclimation period and, in the warmest temperature studied (40°C), also had higher evaporative cooling capacity compared with controls. No analogous responses were recorded in cold birds, although they had higher EWL than controls in all but the highest test temperature. None of the effects found at the end of the heatwave or cold snap period remained until adulthood. This implies that chicks exposed to higher temperatures could be more prepared to counter heat stress as juveniles but that they do not enjoy any advantages of such developmental conditions when facing high temperatures as adults. Conversely, cold temperature does not seem to confer any priming effects in adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elin Persson
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Sölvegatan 37, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden
| | - Ciarán Ó Cuív
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Sölvegatan 37, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden
| | - Andreas Nord
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Sölvegatan 37, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden
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8
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Searing KB, Lomolino MV, Rozzi R. Melting climates shrink North American small mammals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2310855120. [PMID: 38048453 PMCID: PMC10723146 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2310855120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Mammals play important ecological roles in terrestrial ecosystems, with their particular niches and their impacts on energy flow and nutrient cycling being strongly influenced by one of their most fundamental traits-their body size. Body size influences nearly all of the physiological, behavioral, and ecological traits of mammals, and thus, shifts in body size often serve as key mechanisms of adaptation to variation in environmental conditions over space and time. Along with shifts in phenology and distributions, declining body size has been purported to be one of the three universal responses to anthropogenic climate change, yet few studies have been conducted at the spatial and temporal scales appropriate to test this claim. Here, we report that in response to warming of terrestrial ecosystems across North America over the past century, small mammals are decreasing in body size. We further estimate that by 2100 (when global temperatures may have risen some 2.5 to 5.5 °C since 1880), the total anthropogenic decline in body mass of these ecologically and economically important species may range from 10 to 21%. Such shifts in body size of the great multitudes of small mammal populations are, in turn, likely to have major impacts on the structural and functional diversity of terrestrial assemblages across the globe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherina B. Searing
- Department of Biology, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY13210
| | - Mark V. Lomolino
- Department of Biology, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY13210
| | - Roberto Rozzi
- Zentralmagazin Naturwissenschaftlicher Sammlungen, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06108Halle (Saale), Germany
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, 10115Berlin, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103Leipzig, Germany
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9
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Gutiérrez-Guerrero YT, Phifer-Rixey M, Nachman MW. Across two continents: the genomic basis of environmental adaptation in house mice ( Mus musculus domesticus) from the Americas. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.30.564674. [PMID: 37961195 PMCID: PMC10634997 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.30.564674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Parallel clines across environmental gradients can be strong evidence of adaptation. House mice (Mus musculus domesticus) were introduced to the Americas by European colonizers and are now widely distributed from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. Multiple aspects of climate, such as temperature, vary predictably across latitude in the Americas. Past studies of North American populations across latitudinal gradients provided evidence of environmental adaptation in traits related to body size, metabolism, and behavior and identified candidate genes using selection scans. Here, we investigate genomic signals of environmental adaptation on a second continent, South America, and ask whether there is evidence of parallel adaptation across multiple latitudinal transects in the Americas. We first identified loci across the genome showing signatures of selection related to climatic variation in mice sampled across a latitudinal transect in South America, accounting for neutral population structure. Consistent with previous results, most candidate SNPs were in regulatory regions. Genes containing the most extreme outliers relate to traits such as body weight or size, metabolism, immunity, fat, and development or function of the eye as well as traits associated with the cardiovascular and renal systems. We then combined these results with published results from two transects in North America. While most candidate genes were unique to individual transects, we found significant overlap among candidate genes identified independently in the three transects, providing strong evidence of parallel adaptation and identifying genes that likely underlie recent environmental adaptation in house mice across North and South America.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yocelyn T. Gutiérrez-Guerrero
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
| | - Megan Phifer-Rixey
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
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10
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Ballinger MA, Mack KL, Durkin SM, Riddell EA, Nachman MW. Environmentally robust cis-regulatory changes underlie rapid climatic adaptation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2214614120. [PMID: 37725649 PMCID: PMC10523592 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2214614120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Changes in gene expression are thought to play a major role in adaptive evolution. While it is known that gene expression is highly sensitive to the environment, very few studies have determined the influence of genetic and environmental effects on adaptive gene expression differences in natural populations. Here, we utilize allele-specific expression to characterize cis and trans gene regulatory divergence in temperate and tropical house mice in two metabolic tissues under two thermal conditions. First, we show that gene expression divergence is pervasive between populations and across thermal conditions, with roughly 5 to 10% of genes exhibiting genotype-by-environment interactions. Second, we found that most expression divergence was due to cis-regulatory changes that were stable across temperatures. In contrast, patterns of expression plasticity were largely attributable to trans-effects, which showed greater sensitivity to temperature. Nonetheless, we found a small subset of temperature-dependent cis-regulatory changes, thereby identifying loci underlying expression plasticity. Finally, we performed scans for selection in wild house mice to identify genomic signatures of rapid adaptation. Genomic outliers were enriched in genes with evidence for cis-regulatory divergence. Notably, these genes were associated with phenotypes that affected body weight and metabolism, suggesting that cis-regulatory changes are a possible mechanism for adaptive body size evolution between populations. Our results show that gene expression plasticity, largely controlled in trans, may facilitate the colonization of new environments, but that evolved changes in gene expression are largely controlled in cis, illustrating the genetic and nongenetic mechanisms underlying the establishment of populations in new environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mallory A. Ballinger
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT84322
| | - Katya L. Mack
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
| | - Sylvia M. Durkin
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
| | - Eric A. Riddell
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA50011
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
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11
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Dumont BL, Gatti D, Ballinger MA, Lin D, Phifer-Rixey M, Sheehan MJ, Suzuki TA, Wooldridge LK, Frempong HO, Churchill G, Lutz C, Rosenthal N, White JK, Nachman MW. Into the Wild: A novel wild-derived inbred strain resource expands the genomic and phenotypic diversity of laboratory mouse models. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.21.558738. [PMID: 37790321 PMCID: PMC10542534 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.21.558738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
The laboratory mouse has served as the premier animal model system for both basic and preclinical investigations for a century. However, laboratory mice capture a narrow subset of the genetic variation found in wild mouse populations. This consideration inherently restricts the scope of potential discovery in laboratory models and narrows the pool of potentially identified phenotype-associated variants and pathways. Wild mouse populations are reservoirs of predicted functional and disease-associated alleles, but the sparsity of commercially available, well-characterized wild mouse strains limits their broader adoption in biomedical research. To overcome this barrier, we have recently imported, sequenced, and phenotyped a set of 11 wild-derived inbred strains developed from wild-caught Mus musculus domesticus. Each of these "Nachman strains" immortalizes a unique wild haplotype sampled from five environmentally diverse locations across North and South America: Saratoga Springs, New York, USA; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Manaus, Brazil; Tucson, Arizona, USA; and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Whole genome sequence analysis reveals that each strain carries between 4.73-6.54 million single nucleotide differences relative to the mouse reference assembly, with 42.5% of variants in the Nachman strain genomes absent from classical inbred mouse strains. We phenotyped the Nachman strains on a customized pipeline to assess the scope of disease-relevant neurobehavioral, biochemical, physiological, metabolic, and morphological trait variation. The Nachman strains exhibit significant inter-strain variation in >90% of 1119 surveyed traits and expand the range of phenotypic diversity captured in classical inbred strain panels alone. Taken together, our work introduces a novel wild-derived inbred mouse strain resource that will enable new discoveries in basic and preclinical research. These strains are currently available through The Jackson Laboratory Repository under laboratory code NachJ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beth L Dumont
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, USA
- Tufts University, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 136 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA, 02111, USA
- The University of Maine, Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 5775 Stodder Hall, Room 46, Orono, ME, 04469, USA
| | - Daniel Gatti
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, USA
| | - Mallory A Ballinger
- Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Computational Biology, and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Dana Lin
- Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Computational Biology, and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | | | - Michael J Sheehan
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Taichi A Suzuki
- College of Health Solutions and Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA 85281
| | | | - Hilda Opoku Frempong
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, USA
- The University of Maine, Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 5775 Stodder Hall, Room 46, Orono, ME, 04469, USA
| | - Gary Churchill
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, USA
- Tufts University, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 136 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA, 02111, USA
- The University of Maine, Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 5775 Stodder Hall, Room 46, Orono, ME, 04469, USA
| | - Cathleen Lutz
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, USA
| | - Nadia Rosenthal
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, USA
- Tufts University, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 136 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA, 02111, USA
- The University of Maine, Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 5775 Stodder Hall, Room 46, Orono, ME, 04469, USA
| | | | - Michael W Nachman
- Department of Integrative Biology, Center for Computational Biology, and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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12
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Tabh JKR, Nord A. Temperature-dependent Developmental Plasticity and Its Effects on Allen's and Bergmann's Rules in Endotherms. Integr Comp Biol 2023; 63:758-771. [PMID: 37160342 PMCID: PMC10503470 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icad026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Ecogeographical rules, describing common trends in animal form across space and time, have provided key insights into the primary factors driving species diversity on our planet. Among the most well-known ecogeographical rules are Bergmann's rule and Allen's rule, with each correlating ambient temperature to the size and shape of endotherms within a species. In recent years, these two rules have attracted renewed research attention, largely with the goal of understanding how they emerge (e.g., via natural selection or phenotypic plasticity) and, thus, whether they may emerge quickly enough to aid adaptations to a warming world. Yet despite this attention, the precise proximate and ultimate drivers of Bergmann's and Allen's rules remain unresolved. In this conceptual paper, we articulate novel and classic hypotheses for understanding whether and how plastic responses to developmental temperatures might contributed to each rule. Next, we compare over a century of empirical literature surrounding Bergmann's and Allen's rules against our hypotheses to uncover likely avenues by which developmental plasticity might drive temperature-phenotype correlations. Across birds and mammals, studies strongly support developmental plasticity as a driver of Bergmann's and Allen's rules, particularly with regards to Allen's rule. However, plastic contributions toward each rule appear largely non-linear and dependent upon: (1) efficiency of energy use (Bergmann's rule) and (2) thermal advantages (Allen's rule) at given ambient temperatures. These findings suggest that, among endotherms, rapid changes in body shape and size will continue to co-occur with our changing climate, but generalizing the direction of responses across populations is likely naive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua K R Tabh
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Sölvegatan 37, SE-223 62, Sweden
| | - Andreas Nord
- Lund University, Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Sölvegatan 37, SE-223 62, Sweden
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13
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Adamczak SK, McHuron EA, Christiansen F, Dunkin R, McMahon CR, Noren S, Pirotta E, Rosen D, Sumich J, Costa DP. Growth in marine mammals: a review of growth patterns, composition and energy investment. CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 11:coad035. [PMID: 37492466 PMCID: PMC10364341 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coad035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023]
Abstract
Growth of structural mass and energy reserves influences individual survival, reproductive success, population and species life history. Metrics of structural growth and energy storage of individuals are often used to assess population health and reproductive potential, which can inform conservation. However, the energetic costs of tissue deposition for structural growth and energy stores and their prioritization within bioenergetic budgets are poorly documented. This is particularly true across marine mammal species as resources are accumulated at sea, limiting the ability to measure energy allocation and prioritization. We reviewed the literature on marine mammal growth to summarize growth patterns, explore their tissue compositions, assess the energetic costs of depositing these tissues and explore the tradeoffs associated with growth. Generally, marine mammals exhibit logarithmic growth. This means that the energetic costs related to growth and tissue deposition are high for early postnatal animals, but small compared to the total energy budget as animals get older. Growth patterns can also change in response to resource availability, habitat and other energy demands, such that they can serve as an indicator of individual and population health. Composition of tissues remained consistent with respect to protein and water content across species; however, there was a high degree of variability in the lipid content of both muscle (0.1-74.3%) and blubber (0.4-97.9%) due to the use of lipids as energy storage. We found that relatively few well-studied species dominate the literature, leaving data gaps for entire taxa, such as beaked whales. The purpose of this review was to identify such gaps, to inform future research priorities and to improve our understanding of how marine mammals grow and the associated energetic costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie K Adamczak
- Corresponding author: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA, USA.
| | - Elizabeth A McHuron
- Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, University of Washington, 3737 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Fredrik Christiansen
- Department of Ecoscience – Marine Mammal Research, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
| | - Robin Dunkin
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of California Santa Cruz, 130 McAlister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Clive R McMahon
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, 9 Chowder Bay Road, Mosman, NSW 2088, Australia
| | - Shawn Noren
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA, USA
| | - Enrico Pirotta
- Centre for Research into Ecology and Environmental Modelling, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9LZ, UK
| | - David Rosen
- Marine Mammal Research Unit, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, 2022 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - James Sumich
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Science Department, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, 2030 SE Marine Science Driver, Newport, Oregon 97365, USA
| | - Daniel P Costa
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of California Santa Cruz, 130 McAlister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA, USA
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14
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Shelomi M, Meiri S. A practical guide to collections-based research on ecogeographic rules. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10211. [PMID: 37332523 PMCID: PMC10276348 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Ecogeographic research into how species' forms vary across space, time, and climate has taken on new urgency due to contemporary global climate change. Research using museum specimens and other records to study biological rules like Bergmann's, Allen's, and Gloger's Rules has a long history and continues to generate publications and robust scientific debates. Despite the prevalence and history of the field, however, no simple guide on how to carry out such work has ever been published. To lower the barriers of entry for new researchers, this review was created as a practical guide on how to perform ecogeographic research. The guide consolidates disparately published methodologies into a single, convenient document that reviews the history and present of the field of ecogeographic rule research, and describes how to generate appropriate hypotheses, design experiments, gather, and analyze biotic and geographic data, and interpret the results in an ecologically meaningful manner. The result is a semi-standardized guide that enables scientists at all levels from any institution to carry out an investigation from start to finish on any biological rule, taxon, and location of their choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matan Shelomi
- Department of EntomologyNational Taiwan UniversityTaipeiTaiwan
| | - Shai Meiri
- School of Zoology & The Steinhardt Museum of Natural HistoryTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
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15
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Youngflesh C, Saracco JF, Siegel RB, Tingley MW. Abiotic conditions shape spatial and temporal morphological variation in North American birds. Nat Ecol Evol 2022; 6:1860-1870. [PMID: 36302998 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01893-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Quantifying environment-morphology relationships is important not only for understanding the fundamental processes driving phenotypic diversity within and among species but also for predicting how species will respond to ongoing global change. Despite a clear set of expectations motivated by ecological theory, broad evidence in support of generalizable effects of abiotic conditions on spatial and temporal intraspecific morphological variation has been limited. Using standardized data from >250,000 captures of 105 landbird species, we assessed intraspecific shifts in the morphology of adult male birds since 1989 while simultaneously measuring spatial morphological gradients across the North American continent. We found strong spatial and temporal trends in average body size, with warmer temperatures associated with smaller body sizes both at more equatorial latitudes and in more recent years. The magnitude of these thermal effects varied both across and within species, with results suggesting it is the warmest, rather than the coldest, temperatures that drive both spatial and temporal trends. Stronger responses to spatial-rather than temporal-variation in temperature suggest that morphological change may not be keeping up with the pace of climate change. Additionally, as elevation increases, we found that body size declines as relative wing length increases, probably due to the benefits that longer wings confer for flight in thin air environments. Our results provide support for both existing and new large-scale ecomorphological 'rules' and highlight how the response of functional trade-offs to abiotic variation drives morphological change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Casey Youngflesh
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | | | | | - Morgan W Tingley
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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