Gene expression shifts in Emperor penguin adaptation to the extreme Antarctic environment

Abstract

Gene expression can accelerate ecological divergence by rapidly tweaking the response of an organism to novel environments, with more divergent environments exerting stronger selection and, supposedly, requiring faster adaptive responses. Organisms adapted to extreme environments provide ideal systems to test this hypothesis, particularly when compared to related species with milder ecological niches. The Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the only warm-blooded vertebrate breeding in the harsh Antarctic winter, in stark contrast with the less cold-adapted sister species, the King penguin (A. patagonicus). Assembling the firstde novotranscriptomes and analysing multi-tissue (brain, kidney, liver, muscle, skin) RNAseq data from natural populations of both species, we quantified the shifts in tissue-enhanced genes, co-expression gene networks, and differentially expressed genes characterising Emperor penguin adaptation to extreme Antarctic ecology. Our analyses revealed the crucial role played by muscle and liver in temperature homeostasis, fasting and whole-body energy metabolism (glucose/insulin regulation, lipid metabolism, fatty acid beta-oxidation, and blood coagulation). Repatterning at the regulatory level appears as more important in the brain of the Emperor penguin, showing the lowest signature of differential gene expression but the largest co-expression gene network shift. Nevertheless, over-expressed genes related to mTOR signalling in the brain and the liver support their central role in cold and fasting responses. Besides contributing to understanding the genetics underlying complex traits, like body energy reservoir management, our results provide a first insight into the role of gene expression in adaptation to one of the most extreme environmental conditions endured by an endotherm.

Gene expression is the main driver of purifying selection in large penguin populations

“…During June-September 2016 field campaigns at Dumont d’Urville Station in Antarctica and at the Alfred Faure station in Crozet archipelago, samples of five different tissues (brain, liver, kidney, skin and muscle) were collected from three freshly-predated 3-7 months-old chicks from natural populations of Emperor and King penguins, respectively (Paris et al 2023). All tissue samples were collected immediately after death, directly fixed in RNAlater (Applied Biosystems, Warrington, UK) and frozen at −80°C until RNA extraction.…”