Increased socially mediated plasticity in gene expression accompanies rapid adaptive evolution.

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Biology
• Genomics
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• Phenotypic plasticity can facilitate adaptation by allowing traits to respond to environmental changes.
• Genetic adaptation can alter social environments, potentially leading to co-evolutionary feedback dynamics that enhance adaptive potential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if neural gene expression in an adaptive morph of field crickets is more responsive to the social environment than the ancestral morph.
• To test the hypothesis that increased phenotypic plasticity plays a role in rapid adaptation.

Main Methods:

• Comparison of gene expression patterns between a recently evolved silent male morph (flatwings) and the ancestral normal-wing morph of Teleogryllus oceanicus.
• Experimental manipulation of the acoustic environment during cricket rearing to assess socially mediated plasticity.
• Analysis of neural gene expression changes in response to altered social environments.

Main Results:

• Broad, plastic changes in gene expression were observed in response to altered acoustic environments.
• Flatwing genotypes displayed significantly increased socially mediated plasticity in gene expression compared to normal-wing genotypes.
• Normal-wing genotypes showed negligible gene expression plasticity.

Conclusions:

• The findings support the prediction that phenotypic plasticity evolves to be more pronounced during the early stages of adaptation.
• Increased plasticity in flatwing crickets suggests a co-evolutionary process linking socially flexible gene expression with the rapid spread of this adaptive morph.