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Santos MA, Carromeu-Santos A, Quina AS, Antunes MA, Kristensen TN, Santos M, Matos M, Fragata I, Simões P. Experimental Evolution in a Warming World: The Omics Era. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae148. [PMID: 39034684 PMCID: PMC11331425 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae148] [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: 11/29/2023] [Revised: 06/25/2024] [Accepted: 07/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
A comprehensive understanding of the genetic mechanisms that shape species responses to thermal variation is essential for more accurate predictions of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Experimental evolution with high-throughput resequencing approaches (evolve and resequence) is a highly effective tool that has been increasingly employed to elucidate the genetic basis of adaptation. The number of thermal evolve and resequence studies is rising, yet there is a dearth of efforts to integrate this new wealth of knowledge. Here, we review this literature showing how these studies have contributed to increase our understanding on the genetic basis of thermal adaptation. We identify two major trends: highly polygenic basis of thermal adaptation and general lack of consistency in candidate targets of selection between studies. These findings indicate that the adaptive responses to specific environments are rather independent. A review of the literature reveals several gaps in the existing research. Firstly, there is a paucity of studies done with organisms of diverse taxa. Secondly, there is a need to apply more dynamic and ecologically relevant thermal environments. Thirdly, there is a lack of studies that integrate genomic changes with changes in life history and behavioral traits. Addressing these issues would allow a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between genotype and phenotype. We highlight key methodological aspects that can address some of the limitations and omissions identified. These include the need for greater standardization of methodologies and the utilization of new technologies focusing on the integration of genomic and phenotypic variation in the context of thermal adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta A Santos
- CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Lisboa, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Ana Carromeu-Santos
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Ana S Quina
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
- Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz School of Health & Science, Almada, Portugal
| | - Marta A Antunes
- CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Lisboa, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | | | - Mauro Santos
- CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Lisboa, Portugal
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Grup de Genòmica, Bioinformàtica i Biologia Evolutiva (GBBE), Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Margarida Matos
- CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Lisboa, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Inês Fragata
- CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Lisboa, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Pedro Simões
- CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Lisboa, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
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Jiang Q, Zhu L, Zeng H, Basang Z, Suolang Q, Huang J, Cai Y. Evolutionary adaptations generally reverse phenotypic plasticity to restore ancestral phenotypes during new environment adaptation in cattle. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11489. [PMID: 38840586 PMCID: PMC11150418 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Revised: 05/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Phenotype plasticity and evolution adaptations are the two main ways in which allow populations to deal with environmental changes, but the potential relationship between them remains controversial. Using a reciprocal transplant approach with cattle adapted to the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent lowlands, we aim to investigate the relative contributions of evolutionary processes and phenotypic plasticity in driving both phenotypic and transcriptomic changes under natural conditions. We observed that while numerous genetic transcriptomic changes were evident during the forward adaptation to highland environments, plastic changes predominantly facilitate the transformation of transcriptomes into a preferred state when Tibetan cattle are reintroduced to lowland habitats. Genes with ancestral plasticity are generally reversed by evolutionary adaptations and show a closer expression level to the ancestral stage in evolved Tibetan cattle. A similar trend was also observed at the phenotypes level, with a majority of biochemical and hemorheology phenotypes showing a tendency to revert to their ancestral patterns, suggesting the restoration of ancestral expression levels is a widespread evolutionary trend during adaptation. The findings of our study contribute to the debate regarding the relative contributions of plasticity and genetic changes in mammal environment adaptation. Furthermore, we highlight that the restoration of ancestral phenotypes represents a general pattern in cattle new environment adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Jiang
- Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and TechnologyNanjing Agricultural UniversityNanjingChina
- Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary MedicineShandong Academy of Agricultural SciencesJinanChina
| | - Li Zhu
- Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and TechnologyYunnan Agricultural UniversityKunmingChina
| | - Hao Zeng
- Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and TechnologyYunnan Agricultural UniversityKunmingChina
| | - Zhuzha Basang
- Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary MedicineTibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry SciencesLhasaChina
| | - Quji Suolang
- Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary MedicineTibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry SciencesLhasaChina
| | - Jinming Huang
- Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary MedicineShandong Academy of Agricultural SciencesJinanChina
| | - Yafei Cai
- Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and TechnologyNanjing Agricultural UniversityNanjingChina
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3
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Wos G, Požárová D, Kolář F. Role of phenotypic and transcriptomic plasticity in alpine adaptation of Arabidopsis arenosa. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:5771-5784. [PMID: 37728172 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023]
Abstract
Plasticity is an important component of the response of organism to environmental changes, but whether plasticity facilitates adaptation is still largely debated. Using transcriptomic and phenotypic data, we explored the evolution of ancestral plasticity during alpine colonization in Arabidopsis arenosa. We leveraged naturally replicated adaptation in four distinct mountain regions in Central Europe. We sampled seeds from ancestral foothill and independently formed alpine populations in each region and raised them in growth chambers under conditions approximating their natural environments. We gathered RNA-seq and genetic data of 48 and 63 plants and scored vegetative and flowering traits in 203 and 272 plants respectively. Then, we compared gene expression and trait values over two treatments differing in temperature and irradiance and elevations of origin and quantified the extent of ancestral and derived plasticity. At the transcriptomic level, initial plastic changes tended to be more reinforced than reversed in adapted alpine populations. Genes showing reinforcement were involved in the stress response, developmental processes and morphogenesis and those undergoing reversion were related to the stress response (light and biotic stress). At the phenotypic level, initial plastic changes in all but one trait were also reinforced supporting a facilitating role of phenotypic plasticity during colonization of an alpine environment. Our results contrasted with previous studies that showed generally higher reversion than reinforcement and supported the idea that ancestral plasticity tends to be reinforced in the context of alpine adaptation. However, plasticity may also be the source of potential maladaptation, especially at the transcriptomic level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Wos
- Institute of Nature Conservation Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
- Department of Botany, Charles University of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Doubravka Požárová
- Department of Botany, Charles University of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Filip Kolář
- Department of Botany, Charles University of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
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4
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Kuo HC, Yao CT, Liao BY, Weng MP, Dong F, Hsu YC, Hung CM. Weak gene-gene interaction facilitates the evolution of gene expression plasticity. BMC Biol 2023; 21:57. [PMID: 36941675 PMCID: PMC10029303 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01558-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Individual organisms may exhibit phenotypic plasticity when they acclimate to different conditions. Such plastic responses may facilitate or constrain the adaptation of their descendant populations to new environments, complicating their evolutionary trajectories beyond the genetic blueprint. Intriguingly, phenotypic plasticity itself can evolve in terms of its direction and magnitude during adaptation. However, we know little about what determines the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, including gene expression plasticity. Recent laboratory-based studies suggest dominance of reversing gene expression plasticity-plastic responses that move the levels of gene expression away from the new optima. Nevertheless, evidence from natural populations is still limited. RESULTS Here, we studied gene expression plasticity and its evolution in the montane and lowland populations of an elevationally widespread songbird-the Rufous-capped Babbler (Cyanoderma ruficeps)-with reciprocal transplant experiments and transcriptomic analyses; we set common gardens at altitudes close to these populations' native ranges. We confirmed the prevalence of reversing plasticity in genes associated with altitudinal adaptation. Interestingly, we found a positive relationship between magnitude and degree of evolution in gene expression plasticity, which was pertinent to not only adaptation-associated genes but also the whole transcriptomes from multiple tissues. Furthermore, we revealed that genes with weaker expressional interactions with other genes tended to exhibit stronger plasticity and higher degree of plasticity evolution, which explains the positive magnitude-evolution relationship. CONCLUSIONS Our experimental evidence demonstrates that species may initiate their adaptation to new habitats with genes exhibiting strong expression plasticity. We also highlight the role of expression interdependence among genes in regulating the magnitude and evolution of expression plasticity. This study illuminates how the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in gene expression facilitates the adaptation of species to challenging environments in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao-Chih Kuo
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Cheng-Te Yao
- Division of Zoology, Endemic Species Research Institute, Nantou, 55244, Taiwan
| | - Ben-Yang Liao
- Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, 35053, Taiwan
| | - Meng-Pin Weng
- Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, 35053, Taiwan
| | - Feng Dong
- Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China
| | - Yu-Cheng Hsu
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, 97401, Taiwan
| | - Chih-Ming Hung
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan.
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Wood DP, Holmberg JA, Osborne OG, Helmstetter AJ, Dunning LT, Ellison AR, Smith RJ, Lighten J, Papadopulos AST. Genetic assimilation of ancestral plasticity during parallel adaptation to zinc contamination in Silene uniflora. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:414-423. [PMID: 36702857 PMCID: PMC9998271 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01975-w] [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: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity in ancestral populations is hypothesized to facilitate adaptation, but evidence is piecemeal and often contradictory. Further, whether ancestral plasticity increases the probability of parallel adaptive changes has not been explored. The most general finding is that ancestral responses to a new environment are reversed following adaptation (known as reversion). We investigated the contribution of ancestral plasticity to adaptive evolution of gene expression in two independently evolved lineages of zinc-tolerant Silene uniflora. We found that the general pattern of reversion is driven by the absence of a widespread stress response in zinc-adapted plants compared with zinc-sensitive plants. We show that ancestral plasticity that moves expression closer to the optimum value in the new environment influences the evolution of gene expression among genes that are likely to be involved in adaptation and increases the chance that genes are recruited repeatedly during adaptation. However, despite convergence in gene expression levels between independently adapted lineages, ancestral plasticity does not influence how similar expression values of adaptive genes become. Surprisingly, we also observed that ancestral plasticity that increases fitness often becomes genetically determined and fixed, that is, genetically assimilated. These results emphasize the important role of ancestral plasticity in parallel adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel P Wood
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Bangor, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Environment Centre Wales, Bangor, UK
| | - Jon A Holmberg
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Bangor, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Environment Centre Wales, Bangor, UK
| | - Owen G Osborne
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Bangor, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Environment Centre Wales, Bangor, UK
| | - Andrew J Helmstetter
- Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité - Centre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity, Institut Bouisson Bertrand, Montpellier, France
| | - Luke T Dunning
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, Sheffield, UK
| | - Amy R Ellison
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Bangor, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Environment Centre Wales, Bangor, UK
| | | | - Jackie Lighten
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Alexander S T Papadopulos
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Bangor, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Environment Centre Wales, Bangor, UK.
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Bull JK, Stanford BCM, Bokvist JK, Josephson MP, Rogers SM. Environment and genotype predict the genomic nature of domestication of salmonids as revealed by gene expression. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20222124. [PMID: 36475438 PMCID: PMC9727666 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Billions of salmonids are produced annually by artificial reproduction for harvest and conservation. Morphologically, behaviourally and physiologically these fish differ from wild-born fish, including in ways consistent with domestication. Unlike most studied domesticates, which diverged from wild ancestors millennia ago, salmonids offer a tractable model for early-stage domestication. Here, we review a fundamental mechanism for domestication-driven differences in early-stage domestication, differentially expressed genes (DEGs), in salmonids. We found 34 publications examining DEGs under domestication driven by environment and genotype, covering six species, over a range of life-history stages and tissues. Three trends emerged. First, domesticated genotypes have increased expression of growth hormone and related metabolic genes, with differences magnified under artificial environments with increased food. Regulatory consequences of these DEGs potentially drive overall DEG patterns. Second, immune genes are often DEGs under domestication and not simply owing to release from growth-immune trade-offs under increased food. Third, domesticated genotypes exhibit reduced gene expression plasticity, with plasticity further reduced in low-complexity environments typical of production systems. Recommendations for experimental design improvements, coupled with tissue-specific expression and emerging analytical approaches for DEGs present tractable avenues to understand the evolution of domestication in salmonids and other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- James K. Bull
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
| | | | - Jessy K. Bokvist
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4,Fisheries and Oceans Canada, South Coast Area Office, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada V9T 1K3
| | - Matthew P. Josephson
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
| | - Sean M. Rogers
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4,Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Bamfield, British Columbia, Canada V0R 1B0
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7
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Levis NA, McKay DJ, Pfennig DW. Disentangling the developmental origins of a novel phenotype: enhancement versus reversal of environmentally induced gene expression. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221764. [PMID: 36285495 PMCID: PMC9597403 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1764] [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: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that many novel traits might have originated via plasticity-led evolution (PLE). Yet, little is known of the developmental processes that underpin PLE, especially in its early stages. One such process is 'phenotypic accommodation', which occurs when, in response to a change in the environment, an organism experiences adjustments across variable parts of its phenotype that improve its fitness. Here, we asked if environmentally induced changes in gene expression are enhanced or reversed during phenotypic accommodation of a novel, complex phenotype in spadefoot toad tadpoles (Spea multiplicata). More genes than expected were affected by both the environment and phenotypic accommodation in the liver and brain. However, although phenotypic accommodation primarily reversed environmentally induced changes in gene expression in liver tissue, it enhanced these changes in brain tissue. Thus, depending on the tissue, phenotypic accommodation may either minimize functional disruption via reversal of gene expression patterns or promote novelty via enhancement of existing expression patterns. Our study thereby provides insights into the developmental origins of a novel phenotype and the incipient stages of PLE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas A. Levis
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Daniel J. McKay
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - David W. Pfennig
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
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8
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Swaegers J, Koch EL. Gene expression studies of plastic and evolutionary responses to global warming. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2022; 51:100918. [PMID: 35390507 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2022.100918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity can be a rapid response for coping with global warming, yet may be insufficient to protect species from extinction. Evolutionary adaptation may reinforce adaptive or oppose maladaptive plastic responses. With advances in technology whole transcriptomes can provide us with an unprecedented overview of genes and functional processes underlying the interplay between plasticity and evolution. We advocate that insects provide ideal opportunities to study plasticity in non-adapted and thermally adapted populations to infer reaction norms across the whole transcriptome ('reactionomes'). This can advance our understanding of how the interplay between plasticity and evolution shapes responses to warming. So far, a limited number of studies suggest predominantly maladaptive plastic responses to novel environments that are reduced with time, but much more research is needed to infer general patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janne Swaegers
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, Leuven B-3000, Belgium.
| | - Eva L Koch
- School of Biociences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
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9
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Christodoulaki E, Nolte V, Lai WY, Schlötterer C. Natural variation in Drosophila shows weak pleiotropic effects. Genome Biol 2022; 23:116. [PMID: 35578368 PMCID: PMC9109288 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-022-02680-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Pleiotropy describes the phenomenon in which a gene affects multiple phenotypes. The extent of pleiotropy is still disputed, mainly because of issues of inadequate power of analyses. A further challenge is that empirical tests of pleiotropy are restricted to a small subset of all possible phenotypes. To overcome these limitations, we propose a new measurement of pleiotropy that integrates across many phenotypes and multiple generations to improve power. Results We infer pleiotropy from the fitness cost imposed by frequency changes of pleiotropic loci. Mixing Drosophila simulans populations, which adapted independently to the same new environment using different sets of genes, we show that the adaptive frequency changes have been accompanied by measurable fitness costs. Conclusions Unlike previous studies characterizing the molecular basis of pleiotropy, we show that many loci, each of weak effect, contribute to genome-wide pleiotropy. We propose that the costs of pleiotropy are reduced by the modular architecture of gene expression, which facilitates adaptive gene expression changes with low impact on other functions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13059-022-02680-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eirini Christodoulaki
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.,Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vienna, Austria
| | - Viola Nolte
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria
| | - Wei-Yun Lai
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.,Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vienna, Austria
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Huang Y, Lack JB, Hoppel GT, Pool JE. Gene Regulatory Evolution in Cold-Adapted Fly Populations Neutralizes Plasticity and May Undermine Genetic Canalization. Genome Biol Evol 2022; 14:evac050. [PMID: 35380655 PMCID: PMC9017818 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The relationships between adaptive evolution, phenotypic plasticity, and canalization remain incompletely understood. Theoretical and empirical studies have made conflicting arguments on whether adaptive evolution may enhance or oppose the plastic response. Gene regulatory traits offer excellent potential to study the relationship between plasticity and adaptation, and they can now be studied at the transcriptomic level. Here, we take advantage of three closely related pairs of natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster from contrasting thermal environments that reflect three separate instances of cold tolerance evolution. We measure the transcriptome-wide plasticity in gene expression levels and alternative splicing (intron usage) between warm and cold laboratory environments. We find that suspected adaptive changes in both gene expression and alternative splicing tend to neutralize the ancestral plastic response. Further, we investigate the hypothesis that adaptive evolution can lead to decanalization of selected gene regulatory traits. We find strong evidence that suspected adaptive gene expression (but not splicing) changes in cold-adapted populations are more vulnerable to the genetic perturbation of inbreeding than putatively neutral changes. We find some evidence that these patterns may reflect a loss of genetic canalization accompanying adaptation, although other processes including hitchhiking recessive deleterious variants may contribute as well. Our findings augment our understanding of genetic and environmental effects on gene regulation in the context of adaptive evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuheng Huang
- Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Justin B Lack
- Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
- Advanced Biomedical Computational Science, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21701, USA
| | - Grant T Hoppel
- Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - John E Pool
- Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
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11
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Pulkkinen K, Ketola T, Laakso J, Mappes J, Sundberg L. Rich resource environment of fish farms facilitates phenotypic variation and virulence in an opportunistic fish pathogen. Evol Appl 2022; 15:417-428. [PMID: 35386393 PMCID: PMC8965373 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Phenotypic variation is suggested to facilitate the persistence of environmentally growing pathogens under environmental change. Here, we hypothesized that the intensive farming environment induces higher phenotypic variation in microbial pathogens than natural environment, because of high stochasticity for growth and stronger survival selection compared to the natural environment. We tested the hypothesis with an opportunistic fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare isolated either from fish farms or from natural waters. We measured growth parameters of two morphotypes from all isolates in different resource concentrations and two temperatures relevant for the occurrence of disease epidemics at farms and tested their virulence using a zebrafish (Danio rerio) infection model. According to our hypothesis, isolates originating from the fish farms had higher phenotypic variation in growth between the morphotypes than the isolates from natural waters. The difference was more pronounced in higher resource concentrations and the higher temperature, suggesting that phenotypic variation is driven by the exploitation of increased outside‐host resources at farms. Phenotypic variation of virulence was not observed based on isolate origin but only based on morphotype. However, when in contact with the larger fish, the less virulent morphotype of some of the isolates also had high virulence. As the less virulent morphotype also had higher growth rate in outside‐host resources, the results suggest that both morphotypes can contribute to F. columnare epidemics at fish farms, especially with current prospects of warming temperatures. Our results suggest that higher phenotypic variation per se does not lead to higher virulence, but that environmental conditions at fish farms could select isolates with high phenotypic variation in bacterial population and hence affect evolution in F. columnare at fish farms. Our results highlight the multifaceted effects of human‐induced environmental alterations in shaping epidemiology and evolution in microbial pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja Pulkkinen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science University of Jyväskylä Finland
| | - Tarmo Ketola
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science University of Jyväskylä Finland
| | - Jouni Laakso
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki Finland
| | - Johanna Mappes
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science University of Jyväskylä Finland
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki Finland
| | - Lotta‐Riina Sundberg
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science University of Jyväskylä Finland
- Nanoscience Center University of Jyväskylä Finland
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12
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Preston JC, Wooliver R, Driscoll H, Coughlin A, Sheth SN. Spatial variation in high temperature-regulated gene expression predicts evolution of plasticity with climate change in the scarlet monkeyflower. Mol Ecol 2022; 31:1254-1268. [PMID: 34859530 PMCID: PMC8821412 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2021] [Revised: 11/13/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
A major way that organisms can adapt to changing environmental conditions is by evolving increased or decreased phenotypic plasticity. In the face of current global warming, more attention is being paid to the role of plasticity in maintaining fitness as abiotic conditions change over time. However, given that temporal data can be challenging to acquire, a major question is whether evolution in plasticity across space can predict adaptive plasticity across time. In growth chambers simulating two thermal regimes, we generated transcriptome data for western North American scarlet monkeyflowers (Mimulus cardinalis) collected from different latitudes and years (2010 and 2017) to test hypotheses about how plasticity in gene expression is responding to increases in temperature, and if this pattern is consistent across time and space. Supporting the genetic compensation hypothesis, individuals whose progenitors were collected from the warmer-origin northern 2017 descendant cohort showed lower thermal plasticity in gene expression than their cooler-origin northern 2010 ancestors. This was largely due to a change in response at the warmer (40°C) rather than cooler (20°C) treatment. A similar pattern of reduced plasticity, largely due to a change in response at 40°C, was also found for the cooler-origin northern versus the warmer-origin southern population from 2017. Our results demonstrate that reduced phenotypic plasticity can evolve with warming and that spatial and temporal changes in plasticity predict one another.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jill C. Preston
- Department of Plant Biology, The University of Vermont, 63 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, VT 05405, USA,Corresponding author:
| | - Rachel Wooliver
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA,Current address: Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Heather Driscoll
- Bioinformatics Core, Vermont Biomedical Research Network, Department of Biology, Norwich University, 158 Harmon Drive, Northfield, VT 05663, USA
| | - Aeran Coughlin
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
| | - Seema N. Sheth
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
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Chevin LM, Leung C, Le Rouzic A, Uller T. Using phenotypic plasticity to understand the structure and evolution of the genotype-phenotype map. Genetica 2021; 150:209-221. [PMID: 34617196 DOI: 10.1007/s10709-021-00135-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Deciphering the genotype-phenotype map necessitates relating variation at the genetic level to variation at the phenotypic level. This endeavour is inherently limited by the availability of standing genetic variation, the rate of spontaneous mutation to novo genetic variants, and possible biases associated with induced mutagenesis. An interesting alternative is to instead rely on the environment as a source of variation. Many phenotypic traits change plastically in response to the environment, and these changes are generally underlain by changes in gene expression. Relating gene expression plasticity to the phenotypic plasticity of more integrated organismal traits thus provides useful information about which genes influence the development and expression of which traits, even in the absence of genetic variation. We here appraise the prospects and limits of such an environment-for-gene substitution for investigating the genotype-phenotype map. We review models of gene regulatory networks, and discuss the different ways in which they can incorporate the environment to mechanistically model phenotypic plasticity and its evolution. We suggest that substantial progress can be made in deciphering this genotype-environment-phenotype map, by connecting theory on gene regulatory network to empirical patterns of gene co-expression, and by more explicitly relating gene expression to the expression and development of phenotypes, both theoretically and empirically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis-Miguel Chevin
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France.
| | - Christelle Leung
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | - Arnaud Le Rouzic
- Laboratoire Évolution, Génomes, Comportement, Écologie, CNRS, IRD, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Tobias Uller
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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He F, Steige KA, Kovacova V, Göbel U, Bouzid M, Keightley PD, Beyer A, de Meaux J. Cis-regulatory evolution spotlights species differences in the adaptive potential of gene expression plasticity. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3376. [PMID: 34099660 PMCID: PMC8184852 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23558-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity is the variation in phenotype that a single genotype can produce in different environments and, as such, is an important component of individual fitness. However, whether the effect of new mutations, and hence evolution, depends on the direction of plasticity remains controversial. Here, we identify the cis-acting modifications that have reshaped gene expression in response to dehydration stress in three Arabidopsis species. Our study shows that the direction of effects of most cis-regulatory variants differentiating the response between A. thaliana and the sister species A. lyrata and A. halleri depends on the direction of pre-existing plasticity in gene expression. A comparison of the rate of cis-acting variant accumulation in each lineage indicates that the selective forces driving adaptive evolution in gene expression favors regulatory changes that magnify the stress response in A. lyrata. The evolutionary constraints measured on the amino-acid sequence of these genes support this interpretation. In contrast, regulatory changes that mitigate the plastic response to stress evolved more frequently in A. halleri. Our results demonstrate that pre-existing plasticity may be a stepping stone for adaptation, but its selective remodeling differs between lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- F He
- CEPLAS, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - K A Steige
- CEPLAS, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - V Kovacova
- CECAD, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - U Göbel
- CEPLAS, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - M Bouzid
- CEPLAS, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - P D Keightley
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - A Beyer
- CEPLAS, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - J de Meaux
- CEPLAS, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
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