Gene expression plasticity and desert adaptation in house mice.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how organisms adapt to new environments is a key problem in evolution, yet it remains unclear whether phenotypic plasticity generally facilitates or hinders this process. Here we studied evolved and plastic responses to water-stress in lab-born descendants of wild house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) collected from desert and non-desert environments and measured gene expression and organismal phenotypes under control and water-stressed conditions. After many generations in the lab, desert mice consumed significantly less water than mice from other localities, indicating that this difference has a genetic basis. Under water-stress, desert mice maintained more weight than non-desert mice, and exhibited differences in blood chemistry related to osmoregulatory function. Gene expr

SUBMITTER: Bittner NKJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8218737 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature