Epigenetic Potential and Dispersal Propensity in a Free-Living Songbird: A Spatial and Temporal Approach.

ABSTRACT: Natal dispersal is a key life history trait determining fitness and driving population dynamics, genetic structure, and species distributions. Despite existing evidence that not all phenotypes are equally likely to successfully establish in new areas, the mechanistic underpinnings of natal dispersal remain poorly understood. The propensity to disperse into a new environment can be favoured by a high degree of phenotypic plasticity, which facilitates local adaptation and may be achieved via epigenetic mechanisms, which modify gene expression and enable rapid phenotypic changes. Epigenetic processes occur in particular genomic regions-DNA methylation on CpG sites in vertebrates-and thus individual genomes may differ in their capacity to be modified epigenetically. This 'Epigenetic potential'

SUBMITTER: Jimeno B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12617058 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature