Canalisation and plasticity on the developmental manifold of Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: How do the same mechanisms that faithfully regenerate complex developmental programmes in spite of environmental and genetic perturbations also allow responsiveness to environmental signals, adaptation and genetic evolution? Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model, we explore the phenotypic space of growth and development in various genetic and environmental contexts. Our data are growth curves and developmental parameters obtained by automated microscopy. Using these, we show that among the traits that make up the developmental space, correlations within a particular context are predictive of correlations among different contexts. Furthermore, we find that the developmental variability of this animal can be captured on a relatively low-dimensional phenotypic manifold and that

SUBMITTER: Jordan DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10632735 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature