Antoine M. Dujon, Beata Ujvari, Sophie Tissot, Jordan Meliani, Océane Rieu, Nikita Stepanskyy, Rodrigo Hamede, Jácint Tokolyi, Aurora Nedelcu, Frédéric Thomas
{"title":"The complex effects of modern oncogenic environments on the fitness, evolution and conservation of wildlife species","authors":"Antoine M. Dujon, Beata Ujvari, Sophie Tissot, Jordan Meliani, Océane Rieu, Nikita Stepanskyy, Rodrigo Hamede, Jácint Tokolyi, Aurora Nedelcu, Frédéric Thomas","doi":"10.1111/eva.13763","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eva.13763","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Growing evidence indicates that human activities are causing cancer rates to rise in both human and wildlife populations. This is due to the inability of ancestral anti-cancer defences to cope with modern environmental risks. The evolutionary mismatch between modern oncogenic risks and evolved cancer defences has far-reaching effects on various biological aspects at different timeframes, demanding a comprehensive study of the biology and evolutionary ecology of the affected species. Firstly, the increased activation of anti-cancer defences leads to excessive energy expenditure, affecting other biological functions and potentially causing health issues like autoimmune diseases. Secondly, tumorigenesis itself can impact important fitness-related parameters such as competitiveness, predator evasion, resistance to parasites, and dispersal capacity. Thirdly, rising cancer risks can influence the species' life-history traits, often favoring early reproduction to offset fitness costs associated with cancer. However, this strategy has its limits, and it may not ensure the sustainability of the species if cancer risks continue to rise. Lastly, some species may evolve additional anti-cancer defences, with uncertain consequences for their biology and future evolutionary path. In summary, we argue that the effects of increased exposure to cancer-causing substances on wildlife are complex, ranging from immediate responses to long-term evolutionary changes. Understanding these processes, especially in the context of conservation biology, is urgently needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11294924/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141887766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nicolás Peñafiel Loaiza, Abigail H. Chafe, Mónica Moraes R, Nora H. Oleas, Julissa Roncal
{"title":"Genotyping-by-sequencing informs conservation of Andean palms sources of non-timber forest products","authors":"Nicolás Peñafiel Loaiza, Abigail H. Chafe, Mónica Moraes R, Nora H. Oleas, Julissa Roncal","doi":"10.1111/eva.13765","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eva.13765","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Conservation and sustainable management of lineages providing non-timber forest products are imperative under the current global biodiversity loss. Most non-timber forest species, however, lack genomic studies that characterize their intraspecific variation and evolutionary history, which inform species' conservation practices. Contrary to many lineages in the Andean biodiversity hotspot that exhibit high diversification, the genus <i>Parajubaea</i> (Arecaceae) has only three species despite the genus' origin 22 million years ago. Two of the three palm species, <i>P. torallyi</i> and <i>P. sunkha</i>, are non-timber forest species endemic to the Andes of Bolivia and are listed as IUCN endangered. The third species, <i>P. cocoides</i>, is a vulnerable species with unknown wild populations. We investigated the evolutionary relationships of <i>Parajubaea</i> species and the genetic diversity and structure of wild Bolivian populations. Sequencing of five low-copy nuclear genes (3753 bp) challenged the hypothesis that <i>P. cocoides</i> is a cultigen that originated from the wild Bolivian species. We further obtained up to 15,134 de novo single-nucleotide polymorphism markers by genotyping-by-sequencing of 194 wild <i>Parajubaea</i> individuals. Our total DNA sequencing effort rejected the taxonomic separation of the two Bolivian species. As expected for narrow endemic species, we observed low genetic diversity, but no inbreeding signal. We found three genetic clusters shaped by geographic distance, which we use to propose three management units. Different percentages of missing genotypic data did not impact the genetic structure of populations. We use the management units to recommend in situ conservation by creating new protected areas, and ex situ conservation through seed collection.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11291087/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141873716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alice Brambilla, Noel Zehnder, Bruno Bassano, Luca Rossi, Christine Grossen
{"title":"Genetic evidence of a hybrid swarm between Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) and domestic goat (C. hircus)","authors":"Alice Brambilla, Noel Zehnder, Bruno Bassano, Luca Rossi, Christine Grossen","doi":"10.1111/eva.13761","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eva.13761","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Improving the understanding of the causes and effects of anthropogenic hybridization is fundamental to ensure species conservation, particularly in the case of hybridization between wild species and their domestic relatives. Knowledge is missing for many species also because of a lack of appropriate tools for hybrid identification. Here, coupling genotype and phenotype analysis, we carried out an extensive investigation of ongoing hybridization in Alpine ibex <i>Capra ibex</i>, a mountain ungulate of conservation concern from a genetic perspective. By genotyping 63 diagnostic and 465 neutral SNPs, 20 suspected hybrids and 126 Alpine ibex without suspicious phenotype, representing 8 populations across a major part of the species distribution, we found evidence for ongoing hybridization between Alpine ibex and domestic goat. We identified different levels of hybridization including backcrosses into both Alpine ibex and domestic goat. Our results suggest a lack of reproductive barriers between the two species and good survival and reproductive success of the hybrids. Hybridization was locally intense, like a hybrid swarm, but not spread across the rest of the species distribution. Most of the hybrids were discovered in two locations in the north-west of Italy, while random sampling of individuals from different areas did not provide evidence of recent hybridization. Our method, based on amplicon sequencing of 63 diagnostic SNPs specifically developed for this purpose, allowed us to identify hybrids and backcrosses up to the fourth to fifth generations and was suitable for genetic samples of different quality, although with varying levels of certainty regarding the exact number of generations passed since hybridization. Based on the paired analysis of genotype and phenotype, we provide guidelines for the first identification of hybrids in the field and suggest a procedure for the reliable identification of hybrids.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11284124/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141854314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pierre Baduel, Iris Sammarco, Rowan Barrett, Marta Coronado-Zamora, Amélie Crespel, Bárbara Díez-Rodríguez, Janay Fox, Dario Galanti, Josefa González, Alexander Jueterbock, Eric Wootton, Ewan Harney
{"title":"The evolutionary consequences of interactions between the epigenome, the genome and the environment","authors":"Pierre Baduel, Iris Sammarco, Rowan Barrett, Marta Coronado-Zamora, Amélie Crespel, Bárbara Díez-Rodríguez, Janay Fox, Dario Galanti, Josefa González, Alexander Jueterbock, Eric Wootton, Ewan Harney","doi":"10.1111/eva.13730","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eva.13730","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The epigenome is the suite of interacting chemical marks and molecules that helps to shape patterns of development, phenotypic plasticity and gene regulation, in part due to its responsiveness to environmental stimuli. There is increasing interest in understanding the functional and evolutionary importance of this sensitivity under ecologically realistic conditions. Observations that epigenetic variation abounds in natural populations have prompted speculation that it may facilitate evolutionary responses to rapid environmental perturbations, such as those occurring under climate change. A frequent point of contention is whether epigenetic variants reflect genetic variation or are independent of it. The genome and epigenome often appear tightly linked and interdependent. While many epigenetic changes are genetically determined, the converse is also true, with DNA sequence changes influenced by the presence of epigenetic marks. Understanding how the epigenome, genome and environment interact with one another is therefore an essential step in explaining the broader evolutionary consequences of epigenomic variation. Drawing on results from experimental and comparative studies carried out in diverse plant and animal species, we synthesize our current understanding of how these factors interact to shape phenotypic variation in natural populations, with a focus on identifying similarities and differences between taxonomic groups. We describe the main components of the epigenome and how they vary within and between taxa. We review how variation in the epigenome interacts with genetic features and environmental determinants, with a focus on the role of transposable elements (TEs) in integrating the epigenome, genome and environment. And we look at recent studies investigating the functional and evolutionary consequences of these interactions. Although epigenetic differentiation in nature is likely often a result of drift or selection on stochastic epimutations, there is growing evidence that a significant fraction of it can be stably inherited and could therefore contribute to evolution independently of genetic change.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11266121/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141755988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
R. Andrew King, Charlie D. Ellis, Dorte Bekkevold, Dennis Ensing, Thomas Lecointre, Daniel R. Osmond, Adam Piper, Dylan E. Roberts, Sophie Launey, Jamie R. Stevens
{"title":"Leveraging the genetic diversity of trout in the rivers of the British Isles and northern France to understand the movements of sea trout (Salmo trutta L.) around the English Channel","authors":"R. Andrew King, Charlie D. Ellis, Dorte Bekkevold, Dennis Ensing, Thomas Lecointre, Daniel R. Osmond, Adam Piper, Dylan E. Roberts, Sophie Launey, Jamie R. Stevens","doi":"10.1111/eva.13759","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eva.13759","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Populations of anadromous brown trout, also known as sea trout, have suffered recent marked declines in abundance due to multiple factors, including climate change and human activities. While much is known about their freshwater phase, less is known about the species' marine feeding migrations. This situation is hindering the effective management and conservation of anadromous trout in the marine environment. Using a panel of 95 single nucleotide polymorphism markers we developed a genetic baseline, which demonstrated strong regional structuring of genetic diversity in trout populations around the English Channel and adjacent waters. Extensive baseline testing showed this structuring allowed high-confidence assignment of known-origin individuals to region of origin. This study presents new data on the movements of anadromous trout in the English Channel and southern North Sea. Assignment of anadromous trout sampled from 12 marine and estuarine localities highlighted contrasting results for these areas. The majority of these fisheries are composed predominately of stocks local to the sampling location. However, there were multiple cases of long-distance movements of anadromous trout, with several individuals originating from rivers in northeast England being caught in the English Channel and southern North Sea, in some cases more than 1000 km from their natal region. These results have implications for the management of sea trout in inshore waters around the English Channel and southern North Sea.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11261213/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141747033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xuezhen Ge, Jonathan A. Newman, Cortland K. Griswold
{"title":"Geographic variation in evolutionary rescue under climate change in a crop pest–predator system","authors":"Xuezhen Ge, Jonathan A. Newman, Cortland K. Griswold","doi":"10.1111/eva.13750","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eva.13750","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Species distribution models (SDMs) are often built upon the “niche conservatism” assumption, such that they ignore the possibility of “evolutionary rescue” and may underestimate species' future range limits under climate change. We select aphids and ladybirds as model species and develop an eco-evolutionary model to explore evolutionary rescue in a predator–prey system under climate change. We model the adaptive change of species' thermal performances, accounting for biotic interactions. Our study suggests that, without considering evolutionary adaptation, the warming climate will result in a reduction in aphid populations and the extinction of ladybirds in large parts of the United States. However, when incorporating evolutionary adaptation into the model, aphids can adapt to climate change, whereas ladybirds demonstrate geographic variation in their evolutionary rescue potential. Specifically, ladybirds in southern regions are more likely to be rescued than those in the north. In certain northern regions, ladybirds do not avoid extinction due to severe warming trends and seasonality of the climate. While higher warming trends do prompt stronger evolutionary changes in phenotype, they also lead to reduced aphid population abundance such that ecology constrains ladybird population growth. Higher seasonality induces an ecological effect by limiting the length of reproductive season, thereby reducing the capacity for evolutionary rescue. Together, these findings reveal the complex interplay between ecological and evolutionary dynamics in the context of evolutionary adaptation to climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11261214/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141747016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrea Bertram, Justin Bell, Chris Brauer, David Fairclough, Paul Hamer, Jonathan Sandoval-Castillo, Maren Wellenreuther, Luciano B. Beheregaray
{"title":"Estimation of effective number of breeders and effective population size in an abundant and heavily exploited marine teleost","authors":"Andrea Bertram, Justin Bell, Chris Brauer, David Fairclough, Paul Hamer, Jonathan Sandoval-Castillo, Maren Wellenreuther, Luciano B. Beheregaray","doi":"10.1111/eva.13758","DOIUrl":"10.1111/eva.13758","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Obtaining reliable estimates of the effective number of breeders (<i>N</i><sub>b</sub>) and generational effective population size (<i>N</i><sub>e</sub>) for fishery-important species is challenging because they are often iteroparous and highly abundant, which can lead to bias and imprecision. However, recent advances in understanding of these parameters, as well as the development of bias correction methods, have improved the capacity to generate reliable estimates. We utilized samples of both single-cohort young of the year and mixed-age adults from two geographically and genetically isolated stocks of the Australasian snapper (<i>Chrysophrys auratus</i>) to investigate the feasibility of generating reliable <i>N</i><sub>b</sub> and <i>N</i><sub>e</sub> estimates for a fishery species. Snapper is an abundant, iteroparous broadcast spawning teleost that is heavily exploited by recreational and commercial fisheries. Employing neutral genome-wide SNPs and the linkage-disequilibrium method, we determined that the most reliable <i>N</i><sub>b</sub> and <i>N</i><sub>e</sub> estimates could be derived by genotyping at least 200 individuals from a single cohort. Although our estimates made from the mixed-age adult samples were generally lower and less precise than those based on a single cohort, they still proved useful for understanding relative differences in genetic effective size between stocks. The correction formulas applied to adjust for biases due to physical linkage of loci and age structure resulted in substantial upward modifications of our estimates, demonstrating the importance of applying these bias corrections. Our findings provide important guidelines for estimating <i>N</i><sub>b</sub> and <i>N</i><sub>e</sub> for iteroparous species with large populations. This work also highlights the utility of samples originally collected for stock structure and stock assessment work for investigating genetic effective size in fishery-important species.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11261160/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141747015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anita Wray, Eleni Petrou, Krista M. Nichols, Robert Pacunski, Larry LeClair, Kelly S. Andrews, Marty Kardos, Lorenz Hauser
{"title":"Contrasting effect of hybridization on genetic differentiation in three rockfish species with similar life history","authors":"Anita Wray, Eleni Petrou, Krista M. Nichols, Robert Pacunski, Larry LeClair, Kelly S. Andrews, Marty Kardos, Lorenz Hauser","doi":"10.1111/eva.13749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13749","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Hybridization can provide evolutionary benefits (e.g., population resilience to climate change) through the introduction of adaptive alleles and increase of genetic diversity. Nevertheless, management strategies may be designed based only on the parental species within a hybrid zone, without considering the hybrids. This can lead to ineffective spatial management of species, which can directly harm population diversity and negatively impact food webs. Three species of rockfish (Brown Rockfish (<i>Sebastes caurinus</i>), Copper Rockfish (<i>S. auriculatus</i>), and Quillback Rockfish (<i>S. maliger</i>)) are known to hybridize within Puget Sound, Washington, but genetic data from these species are used to infer population structure in the entire genus, including in species that do not hybridize. The goal of this project was to estimate the hybridization rates within the region and determine the effect of hybridization on geographic patterns of genetic structure. We sequenced 290 Brown, Copper, and Quillback rockfish using restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) from four regions within and outside Puget Sound, Washington. We show that (i) hybridization within Puget Sound was asymmetrical, not recent, widespread among individuals, and relatively low level within the genome, (ii) hybridization affected population structure in Copper and Brown rockfish, but not in Quillback Rockfish and (iii) after taking hybridization into account we found limited directional dispersal in Brown and Copper rockfish, and evidence for two isolated populations in Quillback Rockfish. Our results suggest that rockfish population structure is species-specific, dependent on the extent of hybridization, and cannot be inferred from one species to another despite similar life history.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eva.13749","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141732575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Freya Adele Pappert, Daniel Kolbe, Arseny Dubin, Olivia Roth
{"title":"The effect of parental age on the quantity and quality of offspring in Syngnathus typhle, a species with male pregnancy","authors":"Freya Adele Pappert, Daniel Kolbe, Arseny Dubin, Olivia Roth","doi":"10.1111/eva.13755","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13755","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Parental age impacts offspring quantity and quality. Most prior research focused on maternal age. Since in most organisms the mother produces the costly eggs plus provides all or most parental care, it is difficult to distinguish maternal effects mediated via the egg from later maternal care. Here, we addressed the effects of parental age on offspring in <i>Syngnathus typhle</i>, a pipefish with male pregnancy. The divide between one parent producing the eggs and the second parent being the exclusive provider of parental care facilitates a distinction between the effects of parental age on egg quality versus parental age on early development. We fully reciprocally crossed young and old mothers and young and old fathers and assessed impact of parental age combination on offspring number, offspring size, and offspring gene expression patterns. Neither parental combination significantly influenced offspring size or male gestation duration; however, they influenced the number of offspring. Paternal, but not maternal, age strongly affected the offspring gene expression. Offspring from old fathers exhibited substantial changes in the expression of genes related to cell cycle regulation, protein synthesis, DNA repair, and neurogenesis. Our findings thus highlight the importance of gestation, as opposed to gamete production, in shaping the parental contribution to offspring development.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eva.13755","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141639453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Patterns of methylation and transcriptional plasticity during thermal acclimation in a reef-building coral","authors":"Leslie Guerrero, Rachael Bay","doi":"10.1111/eva.13757","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13757","url":null,"abstract":"<p>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 <i>Acropora nana</i>. 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.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eva.13757","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141639536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}