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Nutrition-responsive gene expression and the developmental evolution of insect polyphenism
Sofia Casasa1, Eduardo E Zattara2,3, Armin P Moczek4
1Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA. ascasasa@indiana.edu.
Nature Ecology & Evolution
|May 20, 2020
Summary
Phenotypic plasticity in nutrition-responsive development varies greatly among horned beetle species. Gene expression changes explain the evolution of this trait, highlighting genetic accommodation of gene expression variability.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Genomics
Background:
- Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to adapt to environmental changes, but its molecular basis and evolutionary diversification are not fully understood.
- Nutrition-responsive development, particularly in the evolution of male weaponry in horned beetles, presents a model for studying phenotypic plasticity.
- Understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying these adaptations is crucial for evolutionary developmental biology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the molecular and developmental mechanisms driving nutrition-responsive development and its evolutionary diversification in horned beetles.
- To correlate genome-wide transcription patterns with species-specific degrees of morphological nutrition responsiveness.
- To elucidate the role of gene expression plasticity in the evolution of exaggerated or lost nutritional responsiveness.
Main Methods:
- Genome-wide transcription profiling was conducted on three related horned beetle species under varying nutritional conditions (low vs. high).
- Differential gene expression analysis was performed to identify genes responding to nutritional backgrounds.
- Comparative transcriptomics were used to link gene expression plasticity to morphological evolution.
Main Results:
- The number of differentially expressed genes correlated directly with species-specific levels of morphological nutrition responsiveness.
- Evolutionary increases in responsiveness involved amplifying ancestral gene expression and recruiting new responsive genes.
- Loss of responsiveness was associated with a significant decrease in gene expression plasticity.
Conclusions:
- Genetic accommodation of ancestral gene expression variability plays a key role in both the exaggeration and loss of nutritional plasticity.
- Changes in gene expression plasticity, rather than taxon-restricted genes, are central to the developmental regulation and evolution of nutritional plasticity.
- This study provides insights into the genetic underpinnings of adaptive phenotypic evolution.
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