Evolutionary adaptations to new environments generally reverse plastic phenotypic changes.

ABSTRACT: Organismal adaptation to a new environment may start with plastic phenotypic changes followed by genetic changes, but whether the plastic changes are stepping stones to genetic adaptation is debated. Here we address this question by investigating gene expression and metabolic flux changes in the two-phase adaptation process using transcriptomic data from multiple experimental evolution studies and computational metabolic network analysis, respectively. We discover that genetic changes more frequently reverse than reinforce plastic phenotypic changes in virtually every adaptation. Metabolic network analysis reveals that, even in the presence of plasticity, organismal fitness drops after environmental shifts, but largely recovers through subsequent evolution. Such fitness trajectories explai

SUBMITTER: Ho WC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5783951 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature