Developmental decoupling of alternative phenotypes: insights from the transcriptomes of horn-polyphenic beetles

ABSTRACT: Developmental mechanisms play an important role in determining the costs, limits, and evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity. One issue central to these claims is the metaphor of developmental “decoupling,” where alternate morphs result from evolutionarily independent developmental pathways. We test this assumption through a microarray study that explores differences in gene expression between alternate morphs relative to differences between sexes, a classic example of developmental decoupling. We then examine whether morph-biased genes are less conserved, relative to morph-shared genes, as predicted if developmental decoupling relaxes pleiotropic constraints on divergence. We focus on the developing horns and brains of two species of horned beetles with spectacular sexual-

ORGANISM(S): Onthophagus taurus

SUBMITTER: Emilie Snell-Rood 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-23425 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress