Cortez Mark Jayson V, Rabajante Jomar F, Tubay Jerrold M, Babierra Ariel L
Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna 4031, Philippines.
Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna 4031, Philippines.
Infect Genet Evol. 2017 Jul;51:245-254. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2017.04.006. Epub 2017 Apr 10.
The epigenetic landscape illustrates how cells differentiate through the control of gene regulatory networks. Numerous studies have investigated epigenetic gene regulation but there are limited studies on how the epigenetic landscape and the presence of pathogens influence the evolution of host traits. Here, we formulate a multistable decision-switch model involving several phenotypes with the antagonistic influence of parasitism. As expected, pathogens can drive dominant (common) phenotypes to become inferior through negative frequency-dependent selection. Furthermore, novel predictions of our model show that parasitism can steer the dynamics of phenotype specification from multistable equilibrium convergence to oscillations. This oscillatory behavior could explain pathogen-mediated epimutations and excessive phenotypic plasticity. The Red Queen dynamics also occur in certain parameter space of the model, which demonstrates winnerless cyclic phenotype-switching in hosts and in pathogens. The results of our simulations elucidate the association between the epigenetic and phenotypic fitness landscapes and how parasitism facilitates non-genetic phenotypic diversity.
表观遗传景观展示了细胞如何通过基因调控网络的控制进行分化。众多研究探讨了表观遗传基因调控，但关于表观遗传景观和病原体的存在如何影响宿主性状进化的研究却很有限。在此，我们构建了一个多稳态决策转换模型，该模型涉及几种受寄生拮抗影响的表型。正如预期的那样，病原体可通过负频率依赖选择驱使优势（常见）表型变劣势。此外，我们模型的新预测表明，寄生可引导表型特化的动态过程从多稳态平衡收敛转变为振荡。这种振荡行为可以解释病原体介导的表观突变和过度的表型可塑性。红皇后动态也在模型的特定参数空间中出现，这表明宿主和病原体中存在无赢家的循环表型转换。我们的模拟结果阐明了表观遗传与表型适应性景观之间的关联，以及寄生如何促进非遗传表型多样性。
