A spontaneous complex structural variant in rcan-1 increases exploratory behavior and laboratory fitness of Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Over long evolutionary timescales, major changes to the copy number, function, and genomic organization of genes occur, however, our understanding of the individual mutational events responsible for these changes is lacking. In this report, we study the genetic basis of adaptation of two strains of C. elegans to laboratory food sources using competition experiments on a panel of 89 recombinant inbred lines (RIL). Unexpectedly, we identified a single RIL with higher relative fitness than either of the parental strains. This strain also displayed a novel behavioral phenotype, resulting in higher propensity to explore bacterial lawns. Using bulk-segregant analysis and short-read resequencing of this RIL, we mapped the change in exploration behavior to a spontaneous, complex rearrangement of t

SUBMITTER: Zhao Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7058356 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature