Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic regulation of gene expression allows for the emergence of distinct phenotypic states within the clonal population. Due to the instability of epigenetic inheritance, these phenotypes can intergenerationally switch between states in a stochastic manner. Theoretical studies of evolutionary dynamics predict that the phenotypic heterogeneity enabled by this rapid epigenetic switching between gene expression states would be favored under fluctuating environmental conditions, whereas genetic mutations, as a form of stable inheritance system, would be favored under a stable environment. To test this prediction, we engineered switcher and non-switcher yeast strains, in which the uracil biosynthesis gene URA3 is either continually expressed or switched on and off at two different rates (s

SUBMITTER: Stajic D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9113428 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature