Population Epigenetics

Foust, Christy M.; Schrey, Aaron W.; Richards, Christina L.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2386-1_9

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(115 reference statements)

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“…; Foust et al . ). To understand this problem, Richards () defined three classes of epigenetic variation at a given locus: obligatory, facilitated or pure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…), there is still little support for epigenetic differentiation in natural populations that is not explained by patterns of genetic variation (Foust et al . ; Robertson & Richards ). The salt marsh perennials S. alterniflora and B. frutescens provide a unique opportunity to examine the role of epigenetics because both species span a broad range of environmental conditions in replicate populations, without the association of genotypes or alleles at allozyme loci, or the specialization of putatively adaptive traits with habitats (Richards et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic and epigenetic differences associated with environmental gradients in replicate populations of two salt marsh perennials

et al. 2016

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While traits and trait plasticity are partly genetically based, investigating epigenetic mechanisms may provide more nuanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying response to environment. Using AFLP and methylation-sensitive AFLP, we tested the hypothesis that differentiation to habitats along natural salt marsh environmental gradients occurs at epigenetic, but not genetic loci in two salt marsh perennials. We detected significant genetic and epigenetic structure among populations and among subpopulations, but we found multilocus patterns of differentiation to habitat type only in epigenetic variation for both species. In addition, more epigenetic than genetic loci were correlated with habitat in both species. When we analysed genetic and epigenetic variation simultaneously with partial Mantel, we found no correlation between genetic variation and habitat and a significant correlation between epigenetic variation and habitat in Spartina alterniflora. In Borrichia frutescens, we found significant correlations between epigenetic and/or genetic variation and habitat in four of five populations when populations were analysed individually, but there was no significant correlation between genetic or epigenetic variation and habitat when analysed jointly across the five populations. These analyses suggest that epigenetic mechanisms are involved in the response to salt marsh habitats, but also that the relationships among genetic and epigenetic variation and habitat vary by species. Site-specific conditions may also cloud our ability to detect response in replicate populations with similar environmental gradients. Future studies analysing sequence data and the correlation between genetic variation and DNA methylation will be powerful to identify the contributions of genetic and epigenetic response to environmental gradients.

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“…; Foust et al . ). To understand this problem, Richards () defined three classes of epigenetic variation at a given locus: obligatory, facilitated or pure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic and epigenetic differences associated with environmental gradients in replicate populations of two salt marsh perennials

et al. 2016

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“…The two pairs, that is, H1 and H3 and H2 and H3, whose genetic differentiation was the lowest showed higher epigenetic differentiation. Since epigenetic diversity could partially explain the incongruence between lower genetic diversity and a broader distribution in P. australis of the DELTA and the initialized invasion of Kenyan house sparrows, our findings revealed a trend suggesting that epigenetic variation functions in compensating for decreased genetic variation to contribute to broad ecological adaptation (Foust et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2018).…”

Section: The Relationship Between Genetic and Epigenetic Variationmentioning

confidence: 75%

Epigenetic variation associated with responses to different habitats in the context of genetic divergence in Phragmites australis

Tian

Liu

Yue

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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The mechanisms underlying heritable phenotypic divergence associated with adaptation in response to environmental stresses may involve both genetic and epigenetic variations. Several prior studies have revealed even higher levels of epigenetic variation than genetic variation. However, few population‐level studies have explored the effects of epigenetic variation on species with high levels of genetic diversity distributed across different habitats. Using AFLP and methylation‐sensitive AFLP markers, we tested the hypothesis that epigenetic variation may contribute to differences in plants occupying different habitats when genetic variation alone cannot fully explain adaptation. As a cosmopolitan invasive species, Phragmites australis (common reed) together with high genetic diversity and remarkable adaptability has been suggested as a model for responses to global change and indicators of environmental fluctuations. We found high levels of genetic and epigenetic diversity and significant genetic/epigenetic structure within each of 12 studied populations sampled from four natural habitats of P. australis. Possible adaptive epigenetic variation was suggested by significant correlations between DNA methylation‐based epigenetic differentiation and adaptive genetic divergence in populations across the habitats. Meanwhile, various AMOVAs indicated that some epigenetic differences may respond to various local habitats. A partial Mantel test was used to tease out the correlations between genetic/epigenetic variation and habitat after controlling for the correlation between genetic and epigenetic variations. We found that epigenetic diversity was affected mostly by soil nutrient availability, suggesting that at least some epigenetic differentiation occurred independently of genetic variation. We also found stronger correlations between epigenetic variation and phenotypic traits than between genetic variation and such traits. Overall, our findings indicate that genetically based differentiation correlates with heterogeneous habitats, while epigenetic variation plays an important role in ecological differentiation in natural populations of P. australis. In addition, our results suggest that when assessing global change responses of plant species, intraspecific variation needs to be considered.

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Population Epigenetics

Cited by 2 publications

References 60 publications

Genetic and epigenetic differences associated with environmental gradients in replicate populations of two salt marsh perennials

Genetic and epigenetic differences associated with environmental gradients in replicate populations of two salt marsh perennials

Epigenetic variation associated with responses to different habitats in the context of genetic divergence in Phragmites australis

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