Post-Transcriptional Mechanisms Respond Rapidly to Ecologically Relevant Thermal Fluctuations During Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination.

ABSTRACT: An organism's ability to integrate transient environmental cues experienced during development into molecular and physiological responses forms the basis for adaptive shifts in phenotypic trajectories. During temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), thermal cues during discrete periods in development coordinate molecular changes that ultimately dictate sexual fate and contribute to patterns of inter- and intra-sexual variation. How these mechanisms interface with dynamic thermal environments in nature remain largely unknown. By deploying thermal loggers in wild nests of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) over two consecutive breeding seasons, we observed that 80% of nests exhibit both male- and female-promoting thermal cues during the thermosensitive period, a

SUBMITTER: Bock SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7715621 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature