PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY AND EPIGENETIC MARKING: AN ASSESSMENT OF EVIDENCE FOR GENETIC ACCOMMODATION

The relationship between genotype (which is inherited) and phenotype (the target of selection) is mediated by environmental inputs on gene expression, trait development, and phenotypic integration. Phenotypic plasticity or epigenetic modification might influence evolution in two general ways: (1) by...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution 2014-03, Vol.68 (3), p.656-672
Main Authors: Schlichting, Carl D., Wund, Matthew A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological - genetics
Adaptive evolution
Animals
DNA methylation
Ecological genetics
Epigenesis, Genetic
epigenetic marking
Epigenetics
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Evolutionary genetics
Gene expression
Gene-Environment Interaction
genetic accommodation
genetic assimilation
Genetic variation
Genotype & phenotype
Human genetics
Humans
Phenotypes
Phenotypic plasticity
Phenotypic traits
Population genetics
SPECIAL SECTION: The Epigenetics of Adaptation
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The relationship between genotype (which is inherited) and phenotype (the target of selection) is mediated by environmental inputs on gene expression, trait development, and phenotypic integration. Phenotypic plasticity or epigenetic modification might influence evolution in two general ways: (1) by stimulating evolutionary responses to environmental change via population persistence or by revealing cryptic genetic variation to selection, and (2) through the process of genetic accommodation, whereby natural selection acts to improve the form, regulation, and phenotypic integration of novel phenotypic variants. We provide an overview of models and mechanisms for how such evolutionary influences may be manifested both for plasticity and epigenetic marking. We point to promising avenues of research, identifying systems that can best be used to address the role of plasticity in evolution, as well as the need to apply our expanding knowledge of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms to our understanding of how genetic accommodation occurs in nature. Our review of a wide variety of studies finds widespread evidence for evolution by genetic accommodation.
ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
DOI:10.1111/evo.12348