Dataset Information

Population divergence in compensatory growth responses and their costs in sticklebacks.

ABSTRACT: Compensatory growth (CG) may be an adaptive mechanism that helps to restore an organisms' growth trajectory and adult size from deviations caused by early life resource limitation. Yet, few studies have investigated the genetic basis of CG potential and existence of genetically based population differentiation in CG potential. We studied population differentiation, genetic basis, and costs of CG potential in nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) differing in their normal growth patterns. As selection favors large body size in pond and small body size in marine populations, we expected CG to occur in the pond but not in the marine population. By manipulating feeding conditions (viz. high, low and recovery feeding treatments), we found clear evidence for CG in the pond but not in the marine population, as well as evidence for catch-up growth (i.e., size compensation without growth acceleration) in both populations. In the marine population, overcompensation occurred individuals from the recovery treatment grew eventually larger than those from the high feeding treatment. In both populations, the recovery feeding treatment reduced maturation probability. The recovery feeding treatment also reduced survival probability in the marine but not in the pond population. Analysis of interpopulation hybrids further suggested that both genetic and maternal effects contributed to the population differences in CG. Hence, apart from demonstrating intrinsic costs for recovery growth, both genetic and maternal effects were identified to be important modulators of CG responses. The results provide an evidence for adaptive differentiation in recovery growth potential.

SUBMITTER: Ab Ghani NI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4298429 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Population divergence in compensatory growth responses and their costs in sticklebacks.

Ab Ghani Nurul Izza NI Merilä Juha J

Ecology and evolution 20141203 1

Compensatory growth (CG) may be an adaptive mechanism that helps to restore an organisms' growth trajectory and adult size from deviations caused by early life resource limitation. Yet, few studies have investigated the genetic basis of CG potential and existence of genetically based population differentiation in CG potential. We studied population differentiation, genetic basis, and costs of CG potential in nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) differing in their normal growth patterns ...[more]

PMID: 25628860

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND: Comparative genomics approaches help to shed light on evolutionary processes that shape differentiation between lineages. The nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) is a closely related species of the ecological 'supermodel' three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). It is an emerging model system for evolutionary biology research but has garnered less attention and lacks extensive genomic resources. To expand on these resources and aid the study of sticklebacks in a phylogenetic framework, we characterized nine-spined stickleback transcriptomes from brain and liver using deep sequencing. RESULTS: We obtained nearly eight thousand assembled transcripts, of which 3,091 were assigned as putative one-to-one orthologs to genes found in the three-spined stickleback. These sequences were used for evaluating overall differentiation and substitution rates between nine- and three-spined sticklebacks, and to identify genes that are putatively evolving under positive selection. The synonymous substitution rate was estimated to be 7.1 × 10(-9) per site per year between the two species, and a total of 165 genes showed patterns of adaptive evolution in one or both species. A few nine-spined stickleback contigs lacked an obvious ortholog in three-spined sticklebacks but were found to match genes in other fish species, suggesting several gene losses within 13 million years since the divergence of the two stickleback species. We identified 47 SNPs in 25 different genes that differentiate pond and marine ecotypes. We also identified 468 microsatellites that could be further developed as genetic markers in nine-spined sticklebacks. CONCLUSION: With deep sequencing of nine-spined stickleback cDNA libraries, our study provides a significant increase in the number of gene sequences and microsatellite markers for this species, and identifies a number of genes showing patterns of adaptive evolution between nine- and three-spined sticklebacks. We also report several candidate genes that might be involved in differential adaptation between marine and freshwater nine-spined sticklebacks. This study provides a valuable resource for future studies aiming to identify candidate genes underlying ecological adaptation in this and other stickleback species.

Dataset Information

Population divergence in compensatory growth responses and their costs in sticklebacks.

Publications

Population divergence in compensatory growth responses and their costs in sticklebacks.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets