Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Developmental Plasticity in Horned Beetles

Valena, Sophie; Moczek, Armin P.

doi:10.1155/2012/576303

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(157 reference statements)

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“…Behavioral plasticity especially can alter the rest of the hierarchy, as behavioral plasticity can bring organisms into new environments stimulation of environmental sensors (Tollrian and Leese 2010). Ecological genomic studies are revealing that the development of alternative phenotypes by a single genotype may be common but is amazingly complex, involving the interplay of numerous plastic and non-plastic reaction norms moving through developmental trajectories (Beldade et al 2011;Sommer and Ogawa 2011;Valena and Moczek 2012;Zhou et al 2012).…”

Section: The Mechanisms Of Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, even in such cases methylation and histone modifications are induced by the environment, and can be measured as a form of intergenerational plasticity. There are still many questions to answer regarding the relationship between plasticity and the epigenome, but epigenetics does seem to be an important mechanism in at least some forms of plasticity Valena and Moczek 2012).…”

Section: Molecular Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating Phenotypic Plasticity Within an Ecological Genomics Framework: Recent Insights from the Genomics, Evolution, Ecology, and Fitness of Plasticity

Morris

Rogers

2013

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology

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E.B. Ford's 1964 book Ecological Genetics was a call for biologists to engage in multidisciplinary work in order to elucidate the link between genotype, phenotype, and fitness for ecologically relevant traits. In this review, we argue that the integration of an ecological genomics framework in studies of phenotypic plasticity is a promising approach to elucidate the causal links between genes and the environment, particularly during colonization of novel environments, environmental change, and speciation. This review highlights some of the questions and hypotheses generated from a mechanistic, evolutionary, and ecological perspective, in order to direct the continued and future use of genomic tools in the study of phenotypic plasticity.

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Section: The Mechanisms Of Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Molecular Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Phenotypic Plasticity Within an Ecological Genomics Framework: Recent Insights from the Genomics, Evolution, Ecology, and Fitness of Plasticity

Morris

Rogers

2013

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology

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“…Horned beetles exhibit plasticity on a variety of levels of biological organization and developmental time scales (Fig. 7.1) (reviewed in Valena and Moczek 2012). Most obvious is the development of horns, which in most species is limited to males, and among conspecific males, is closely tied to the availability of food during larval development ( Fig.…”

Section: The Plastic Biology Of Horned Beetles: a Primermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, considerable differences exist among species in the morphological disparity between alternative morphs, manifest in species-specific differences in the average horn length of minor and major morphs, or the amplitude of the body sizehorn length allometry (Valena and Moczek 2012). In Fig.…”

Section: Microevolution Of Plasticity: Integrating Ecological Genomicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics of Developmental Plasticity: Novel Approaches and First Insights From the Study of Horned Beetles

Moczek

Kijimoto

Snell‐Rood

et al. 2013

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology

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Phenotypic plasticity pervades organismal development and physiology where it facilitates an enormous range of adaptive responses to novel or stressful environments. Plasticity also impacts evolutionary processes, reducing the probability of population extinction in the face of environmental changes and sometimes increasing speciation rates in developmentally plastic lineages. Despite the adaptive significance of plasticity, organisms are not infinitely plastic; rather they are constrained in the kinds and ranges of environmental changes to which their body parts, organs, and tissues can respond. Understanding the nature, costs, and limits of developmental plasticity requires insight into (i) the developmental-genetic and genomic mechanisms underlying plastic responses as well as (ii) their interplay with ecological and social conditions. In this chapter we review and summarize recent progress in the development of horned beetles as a study system with which to explore the interactions between changing ecological conditions and plastic, genome-wide responses in gene expression and developmental function. In particular, we focus on plastic responses to nutritional variation, which in horned beetles differ widely as a function of body region, sex, and species. We begin by introducing the study system and summarize the developmental-genetic and genomic tool set currently available for horned beetles. We then present recently developed statistical approaches that can be used to guide the design of multi-factorial genome-wide transcriptional comparisons when circumstances prohibit a fully balanced design. We present an example of such an approach in the horned beetle Onthophagus taurus and end by highlighting the growing opportunities for future ecological-genomic studies in horned beetles.

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“…Hence, relationships between sexually selected traits and individual quality may vary with age, with the strongest relationships being found during periods of maximal trait expression (Hooper, Tsubaki, & Siva‐Jothy, 1999; Von Hardenberg et al., 2007). Such dynamic patterns of trait expression would not be possible if trait expression was solely under a purely static genetic control; instead epigenetic control mediated by body condition has been proposed as one means of modifying sexual trait expression (Jašarević, Geary, & Rosenfeld, 2012; Valena & Moczek, 2012). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age‐ and quality‐dependent DNA methylation correlate with melanin‐based coloration in a wild bird

Soulsbury

Lipponen

Wood

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Secondary sexual trait expression can be influenced by fixed individual factors (such as genetic quality) as well as by dynamic factors (such as age and environmentally induced gene expression) that may be associated with variation in condition or quality. In particular, melanin‐based traits are known to relate to condition and there is a well‐characterized genetic pathway underpinning their expression. However, the mechanisms linking variable trait expression to genetic quality remain unclear. One plausible mechanism is that genetic quality could influence trait expression via differential methylation and differential gene expression. We therefore conducted a pilot study examining DNA methylation at a candidate gene (agouti‐related neuropeptide: AgRP) in the black grouse Lyrurus tetrix. We specifically tested whether CpG methylation covaries with age and multilocus heterozygosity (a proxy of genetic quality) and from there whether the expression of a melanin‐based ornament (ultraviolet‐blue chroma) correlates with DNA methylation. Consistent with expectations, we found clear evidence for age‐ and heterozygosity‐specific patterns of DNA methylation, with two CpG sites showing the greatest DNA methylation in highly heterozygous males at their peak age of reproduction. Furthermore, DNA methylation at three CpG sites was significantly positively correlated with ultraviolet‐blue chroma. Ours is the first study to our knowledge to document age‐ and quality‐dependent variation in DNA methylation and to show that dynamic sexual trait expression across the lifespan of an organism is associated with patterns of DNA methylation. Although we cannot demonstrate causality, our work provides empirical support for a mechanism that could potentially link key individual factors to variation in sexual trait expression in a wild vertebrate.

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Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Developmental Plasticity in Horned Beetles

Cited by 18 publications

References 93 publications

Integrating Phenotypic Plasticity Within an Ecological Genomics Framework: Recent Insights from the Genomics, Evolution, Ecology, and Fitness of Plasticity

Integrating Phenotypic Plasticity Within an Ecological Genomics Framework: Recent Insights from the Genomics, Evolution, Ecology, and Fitness of Plasticity

Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics of Developmental Plasticity: Novel Approaches and First Insights From the Study of Horned Beetles

Age‐ and quality‐dependent DNA methylation correlate with melanin‐based coloration in a wild bird

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