Project description:To investigate the effects of bonding experiences on the transcriptome of monogamous P. californicus in the lungs. Our results indicated that the lung transcriptomes of Peromyscus californicus are altered in a manner that depends on pair bonding. Pathways affected include hypoxia response and heart development.
Project description:Whole transcriptome RNA sequencing in A549 human NSCLC cells was generated. A549 cells were cultured in sera isolated from male P. californicus that differed in bonding experiences
Project description:The formation of new species is often a consequence of genetic incompatibilities accumulated between populations during allopatric divergence. When divergent taxa interbreed, these incompatibilities impact physiology and have a direct cost resulting in reduced hybrid fitness. Recent surveys of gene regulation in interspecific hybrids have revealed anomalous expression across large proportions of the genome, with 30-70% of all genes apparently misexpressed, mostly in the direction of down-regulation. However, since most of these studies have focused on pairs of species exhibiting high degrees of reproductive isolation, the association between regulatory disruption and reduced hybrid fitness prior to species formation remains unclear. Within the copepod species Tigriopus californicus, interpopulation hybrids show reduced fitness associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Here we show that in contrast to studies of interspecific hybrids, only 1.2% of the transcriptome was misexpressed in interpopulation hybrids of T. californicus, and nearly 80% of misexpressed genes were overexpressed rather than underexpressed. Moreover, many of the misexpressed genes were components of functional pathways impacted by mitonuclear incompatibilities in hybrid T. californicus (e.g., oxidative phosphorylation and antioxidant response). We also show that the magnitude of hybrid misregulation is not dependent on levels of protein sequence divergence, even though the latter is correlated with expression divergence between parental populations. Our results suggest that hybrid breakdown at early stages of speciation may result from initial incompatibilities amplified by the cost of compensatory physiological responses.
