Epigenetics and Phenotypic Plasticity in Animals

Vogt, Günter

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-13771-6_3

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 243 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In ecological systems, an emerging hypothesis is that DNA methylation mediates adaptive phenotypic plasticity by fluctuating in response to environmental cues and interacting with chromatin‐modifying proteins and transcription complexes resulting in altered gene expression (Eirin‐Lopez & Putnam, 2019 ; Vogt, 2022 ). Following thermal acclimation, we identified differential methylation within 416 gene bodies relative to the non‐acclimated samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of methylation and transcriptional plasticity during thermal acclimation in a reef‐building coral

Guerrero,

Bay

2024

Evolutionary Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Phenotypic plasticity can buffer organisms against short‐term environmental fluctuations. For example, previous exposure to increased temperatures can increase thermal tolerance in many species. Prior studies have found that acclimation to higher temperature can influence the magnitude of transcriptional response to subsequent acute thermal stress (hereafter, “transcriptional response modulation”). However, mechanisms mediating this gene expression response and, ultimately, phenotypic plasticity remain largely unknown. Epigenetic modifications are good candidates for modulating transcriptional response, as they broadly correlate with gene expression. Here, we investigate changes in DNA methylation as a possible mechanism controlling shifts in gene expression plasticity and thermal acclimation in the reef‐building coral Acropora nana. We find that gene expression response to acute stress is altered in corals acclimated to different temperatures, with many genes exhibiting a dampened response to heat stress in corals pre‐conditioned to higher temperatures. At the same time, we observe shifts in methylation during both acclimation (11 days) and acute heat stress (24 h). We observed that the acute heat stress results in shifts in gene‐level methylation and elicits an acute transcriptional response in distinct gene sets. Further, acclimation‐induced shifts in gene expression plasticity and differential methylation also largely occur in separate sets of genes. Counter to our initial hypothesis no overall correlation between the magnitude of differential methylation and the change in gene expression plasticity. We do find a small but statistically significant overlap in genes exhibiting both dampened expression response and shifts in methylation (14 genes), which could be candidates for further inquiry. Overall, our results suggest transcriptional response modulation occurs independently from methylation changes induced by thermal acclimation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of methylation and transcriptional plasticity during thermal acclimation in a reef‐building coral

Guerrero,

Bay

2024

Evolutionary Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In asexually reproducing species, phenotypic variation is almost exclusively based on epigenetic variation [ 9 , 32 , 99 ], whereas in sexual reproducers, it relies on both genetic and epigenetic sources. In the latter, genetic variation may often be predominant, but studies on the relative contribution of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms to phenotypic variation are scarce.…”

Section: Short Digression Into the Implications Of Epigenetic Variati...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Histone modifications such as acetylation (filled squares) and deacetylation (open squares) help to shape chromatin structure and access to the DNA, and methylation (filled circles) and demethylation (open circles) of CpG dinucleotides in the DNA modify gene expression, resulting in different variants of a phenotypic trait. Adapted from Vogt [ 9 ].…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phenotypic plasticity occurs in all organisms, but seems to be particularly important for asexually reproducing animal and plant populations and species with longer generation times, in which genetic recombination is absent and the mutation frequency per time unit relatively low, respectively. There is increasing evidence that epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs are among the molecular pathways underpinning phenotypic plasticity [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Environmental Adaptation of Genetically Uniform Organisms with the Help of Epigenetic Mechanisms—An Insightful Perspective on Ecoepigenetics

Vogt

2022

Epigenomes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Organisms adapt to different environments by selection of the most suitable phenotypes from the standing genetic variation or by phenotypic plasticity, the ability of single genotypes to produce different phenotypes in different environments. Because of near genetic identity, asexually reproducing populations are particularly suitable for the investigation of the potential and molecular underpinning of the latter alternative in depth. Recent analyses on the whole-genome scale of differently adapted clonal animals and plants demonstrated that epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs are among the molecular pathways supporting phenotypic plasticity and that epigenetic variation is used to stably adapt to different environments. Case studies revealed habitat-specific epigenetic fingerprints that were maintained over subsequent years pointing at the existence of epigenetic ecotypes. Environmentally induced epimutations and corresponding gene expression changes provide an ideal means for fast and directional adaptation to changing or new conditions, because they can synchronously alter phenotypes in many population members. Because microorganisms inclusive of human pathogens also exploit epigenetically mediated phenotypic variation for environmental adaptation, this phenomenon is considered a universal biological principle. The production of different phenotypes from the same DNA sequence in response to environmental cues by epigenetic mechanisms also provides a mechanistic explanation for the “general-purpose genotype hypothesis” and the “genetic paradox of invasions”.

show abstract

“…The phenotype includes all characteristics of an organism other than its genes. Phenotypic plasticity is the property of organisms to produce different phenotypes from the same genome in response to different environmental cues or inputs ( Schlichting 1986 ; West-Eberhard 1989 ; DeWitt and Scheiner 2004 ; Fusco and Minelli 2010 ; Sommer 2020 ; Pfennig 2021 ; Vogt 2022a ). The plastic response may involve changes in morphology, physiology, life-history traits, behavior, trophic position, and niche width, and may be adaptive or nonadaptive ( Ghalambor et al 2007 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic plasticity in the monoclonal marbled crayfish is associated with very low genetic diversity but pronounced epigenetic diversity

Vogt

2022

Current Zoology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Clonal organisms are particularly useful to investigate the contribution of epigenetics to phenotypic plasticity, because confounding effects of genetic variation are negligible. In the last decade, the apomictic parthenogenetic marbled crayfish, Procambarus virginalis, has been developed as a model to investigate the relationships between phenotypic plasticity and genetic and epigenetic diversity in detail. This crayfish originated about 30 years ago by autotriploidy from a single slough crayfish Procambarus fallax. As the result of human releases and active spreading, marbled crayfish has established numerous populations in very diverse habitats in 22 countries from the tropics to cold temperate regions. Studies in the laboratory and field revealed considerable plasticity in coloration, spination, morphometric parameters, growth, food preference, population structure, trophic position and niche width. Illumina and PacBio whole-genome sequencing of marbled crayfish from 19 populations in Europe and Madagascar demonstrated extremely low genetic diversity within and among populations, indicating that the observed phenotypic diversity and ability to live in strikingly different environments is not due to adaptation by selection on genetic variation. In contrast, considerable differences were found between populations in the DNA methylation patterns of hundreds of genes, suggesting that the environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity may be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms and corresponding changes in gene expression. Specific DNA methylation fingerprints persisted in local populations over successive years, but there is presently no information as to whether these epigenetic signatures are inherited or established anew in each generation and whether the recorded phenotypic plasticity is adaptive or non-adaptive.

show abstract

Epigenetics and Phenotypic Plasticity in Animals

Cited by 4 publications

References 243 publications

Patterns of methylation and transcriptional plasticity during thermal acclimation in a reef‐building coral

Patterns of methylation and transcriptional plasticity during thermal acclimation in a reef‐building coral

Environmental Adaptation of Genetically Uniform Organisms with the Help of Epigenetic Mechanisms—An Insightful Perspective on Ecoepigenetics

Phenotypic plasticity in the monoclonal marbled crayfish is associated with very low genetic diversity but pronounced epigenetic diversity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About