Evolution of Spatial and Temporal cis-Regulatory Divergence in Sticklebacks.

ABSTRACT: Cis-regulatory changes are thought to play a major role in adaptation. Threespine sticklebacks have repeatedly colonized freshwater habitats in the Northern Hemisphere, where they have evolved a suite of phenotypes that distinguish them from marine populations, including changes in physiology, behavior, and morphology. To understand the role of gene regulatory evolution in adaptive divergence, here we investigate cis-regulatory changes in gene expression between marine and freshwater ecotypes through allele-specific expression (ASE) in F1 hybrids. Surveying seven ecologically relevant tissues, including three sampled across two developmental stages, we identified cis-regulatory divergence affecting a third of genes, nearly half of which were tissue-specific. Next, we compared allele-specif

SUBMITTER: Mack KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10015619 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature