Evolution of anticipatory effects mediated by epigenetic changes

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Epigenetics
• Environmental adaptation

Background:

• Anticipatory effects involve parental epigenetic modifications in gametes influencing offspring phenotype based on environmental cues.
• Understanding the evolutionary conditions favoring these effects in changing environments is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the evolutionary emergence of anticipatory effects mediated by epigenetic changes in fluctuating environments.
• To compare the evolution of anticipatory effects with other adaptive strategies like plasticity and genetic tracking.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an individual-based simulation model with explicit genetic architecture.
• Simulated populations responding to environmental changes through evolved anticipatory effects, plasticity, bet hedging, or genetic adaptation.

Main Results:

• Anticipatory effects evolve when environmental cues are reliable and environmental change occurs at intermediate rates, with low fitness costs.
• Evolution of anticipatory effects demonstrated robustness across different genetic architectures, especially with high cue reliability.
• Anticipatory effects consistently yielded lower fitness benefits compared to within-generation plasticity.

Conclusions:

• Anticipatory epigenetic inheritance can evolve under specific conditions of environmental predictability and cost.
• The lower fitness benefits compared to plasticity may explain the limited observation of anticipatory effects in empirical studies.