Epigenetic variation among natural populations of the South African sandhopper Talorchestia capensis

Baldanzi, Simone; Watson, Ralph; McQuaid, Christopher D.; Gouws, Gavin; Porri, Francesca

doi:10.1007/s10682-016-9877-9

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Significant correlations between epigenetic and genetic differentiation have been reported in a range of plants[ 40 ], and animals [ 41 , 42 ]. However in line with our results, an increasing number of studies also find no correlations between epigenetic and genetic differentiation, [ 9 , 43 – 45 ] which may suggest a role for epigenetic mechanisms to act as alternative sources of variation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Epigenetic and genetic variation among three separate introductions of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) into Australia

et al. 2018

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Invasive populations are often associated with low levels of genetic diversity owing to population bottlenecks at the initial stages of invasion. Despite this, the ability of invasive species to adapt rapidly in response to novel environments is well documented. Epigenetic mechanisms have recently been proposed to facilitate the success of invasive species by compensating for reduced levels of genetic variation. Here, we use methylation sensitive-amplification fragment length polymorphism and microsatellite analyses to compare levels of epigenetic and genetic diversity and differentiation across 15 sites in the introduced Australian house sparrow population. We find patterns of epigenetic and genetic differentiation that are consistent with historical descriptions of three distinct, introductions events. However unlike genetic differentiation, epigenetic differentiation was higher among sample sites than among invasion clusters, suggesting that patterns of epigenetic variation are more strongly influenced by local environmental stimuli or sequential founder events than the initial diversity in the introduction population. Interestingly, we fail to detect correlations between pairwise site comparisons of epigenetic and genetic differentiation, suggesting that some of the observed epigenetic variation has arisen independently of genetic variation. We also fail to detect the potentially compensatory relationship between epigenetic and genetic diversity that has been detected in a more recent house sparrow invasion in Africa. We discuss the potential for this relationship to be obscured by recovered genetic diversity in more established populations, and highlight the importance of incorporating introduction history into population-wide epigenetic analyses.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Epigenetic and genetic variation among three separate introductions of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) into Australia

et al. 2018

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“…A group of molecular and evolutionary biologists offers an integrated perspective on this emergent research area. role of epigenetic variation in several aspects of population dynamics relevant to local divergence [38][39][40][41][42], invasion potential [43,44], migration propensity [45], developmental morph determination [46,47], and host-parasite interactions [48][49][50]. Note that field studies are challenged to determine the precise source of epigenetic variation (i.e., direct environmental induction, inheritance from previously induced generations, or locally selected 'epialleles' [51]), and to exclude the possibility that epigenetic differences among populations are simply downstream consequences of genetic differences [52,53].…”

Section: Inheritance Beyond Dna Poses Key Questions For Evolution and Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding 'Non-genetic' Inheritance: Insights from Molecular-Evolutionary Crosstalk

Adrian‐Kalchhauser

Sultan

Shama

et al. 2020

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

100

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“…Investigation of natural animal populations revealed that epigenetic diversity is usually higher than genetic diversity. This was shown for species diverse as sandhoppers, fish, and bats [ 40–42 ]. These findings suggest that wild animals might use epigenetic phenotype variation in addition to genetic variation to adapt to different environments.…”

Section: Facilitation Of Ecological Adaptation By Epigenetic Phenotypmentioning

confidence: 89%

Facilitation of environmental adaptation and evolution by epigenetic phenotype variation: insights from clonal, invasive, polyploid, and domesticated animals

Vogt

2017

Environmental Epigenetics

101

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There is increasing evidence, particularly from plants, that epigenetic mechanisms can contribute to environmental adaptation and evolution. The present article provides an overview on this topic for animals and highlights the special suitability of clonal, invasive, hybrid, polyploid, and domesticated species for environmental and evolutionary epigenetics. Laboratory and field studies with asexually reproducing animals have shown that epigenetically diverse phenotypes can be produced from the same genome either by developmental stochasticity or environmental induction. The analysis of invasions revealed that epigenetic phenotype variation may help to overcome genetic barriers typically associated with invasions such as bottlenecks and inbreeding. Research with hybrids and polyploids established that epigenetic mechanisms are involved in consolidation of speciation by contributing to reproductive isolation and restructuring of the genome in the neo-species. Epigenetic mechanisms may even have the potential to trigger speciation but evidence is still meager. The comparison of domesticated animals and their wild ancestors demonstrated heritability and selectability of phenotype modulating DNA methylation patterns. Hypotheses, model predictions, and empirical results are presented to explain how epigenetic phenotype variation could facilitate adaptation and speciation. Clonal laboratory lineages, monoclonal invaders, and adaptive radiations of different evolutionary age seem particularly suitable to empirically test the proposed ideas. A respective research agenda is presented.

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Epigenetic variation among natural populations of the South African sandhopper Talorchestia capensis

Cited by 18 publications

References 50 publications

Epigenetic and genetic variation among three separate introductions of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) into Australia

Epigenetic and genetic variation among three separate introductions of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) into Australia

Understanding 'Non-genetic' Inheritance: Insights from Molecular-Evolutionary Crosstalk

Facilitation of environmental adaptation and evolution by epigenetic phenotype variation: insights from clonal, invasive, polyploid, and domesticated animals

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