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Position-effect Variegation

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In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.

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Epistasis

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 4, 2025

Protocol for Assessing the Relative Effects of Environment and Genetics on Antler and Body Growth for a Long-lived Cervid

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A chromosomal inversion contributes to divergence in multiple traits between deer mouse ecotypes.

Emily R Hager¹, Olivia S Harringmeyer¹, T Brock Wooldridge¹

¹Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|July 21, 2022

Summary

A large chromosomal inversion helps maintain distinct deer mouse ecotypes by linking traits like tail length and coat color. This genetic structure persists despite gene flow, driven by natural selection.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Genetics
Ecology

Background:

Understanding the genetic mechanisms behind local adaptation and ecotype formation is crucial in evolutionary biology.
Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) exhibit distinct forest and prairie ecotypes, providing a model system to study adaptation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the genetic basis of variation in key traits (tail length, coat color) between forest and prairie deer mouse ecotypes.
To identify genetic elements responsible for maintaining ecotype distinctness despite gene flow.

Main Methods:

Characterization of genetic variation in deer mouse ecotypes.
Identification and analysis of a large chromosomal inversion.
Assessment of inversion frequency across habitat gradients.

Main Results:

A 41-megabase chromosomal inversion was discovered and linked to tail length and coat color variation.
The inversion is highly frequent (90%) in the forest ecotype and absent in the prairie ecotype, with frequencies changing across the habitat transition.
Suppressed recombination within the inversion may confer fitness benefits.

Conclusions:

A large chromosomal inversion plays a significant role in the evolution and maintenance of deer mouse ecotypes.
Divergent selection is implicated in maintaining the inversion at observed frequencies, overcoming gene flow.
This study highlights the importance of structural variation, like inversions, in shaping adaptation and ecotype divergence in mammals.