Regulators of an ancient polyphenism evolved through episodic protein divergence and parallel gene radiations.

ABSTRACT: Polyphenism is a form of developmental plasticity that transduces environmental cues into discontinuous, often disparate phenotypes. In some cases, polyphenism has been attributed to facilitating morphological diversification and even the evolution of novel traits. However, this process is predicated on the origins and evolutionary maintenance of genetic mechanisms that specify alternate developmental networks. When and how regulatory loci arise and change, specifically before and throughout the history of a polyphenism, is little understood. Here, we establish a phylogenetic and comparative molecular context for two dynamically evolving genes, eud-1 and seud-1, which regulate polyphenism in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus. This species is dimorphic in its adult fe

SUBMITTER: Biddle JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7062019 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature