Evolution of Plasticity in Response to Ethanol between Sister Species with Different Ecological Histories ( Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans )
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The contribution of phenotypic plasticity to adaptation is contentious, with contradictory empirical support for its role in evolution. Here I investigate the possibility that phenotype plasticity has contributed to adaptation to a novel resource. If phenotype plasticity contributes to adaptation, it is thought to evolve in a process termed genetic accommodation. Under this model, the initial response to the environment is widely variable due to cryptic genetic variation, which is then refined by selection to a single adaptive response. I examine the role of phenotypic plasticity in adaptation here by comparing two species of Drosophila that differ in their adaptation to ethanol ( Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans) . Both species are human commensals with a recent cosmopolitan expansion, but only D. melanogaster is adapted to ethanol exposure. I measure phenotype plasticity in response to ethanol with gene expression and an approach that combines information about expression and alternative splicing. I find evidence for adaptation to ethanol through genetic accommodation, suggesting that the evolution of phenotype plasticity contributed to the ability of D. melanogaster to exploit a novel resource. I also find evidence that alternative splicing may be more important for the adaptive response to ethanol than overall changes in exon expression.
Source: The American Naturalist
DOI: 10.1086/710763
Author: Sarah A. Signor
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3042845024