Tams Verena, Nickel Jana Helene, Ehring Anne, Cordellier Mathilde
Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany.
Institute of Zoology Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Oct 18;10(23):13095-13108. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6899. eCollection 2020 Dec.
Phenotypic plastic responses allow organisms to rapidly adjust when facing environmental challenges-these responses comprise morphological, behavioral but also life-history changes. Alteration of life-history traits when exposed to predation risk have been reported often in the ecological and genomic model organism . However, the molecular basis of this response is not well understood, especially in the context of fish predation. Here, we characterized the transcriptional profiles of two clonal lines with opposed life histories when exposed to fish kairomones. First, we conducted a differential gene expression, identifying a total of 125 candidate transcripts involved in the predator-induced response, uncovering substantial intraspecific variation. Second, we applied a gene coexpression network analysis to find clusters of tightly linked transcripts revealing the functional relations of transcripts underlying the predator-induced response. Our results showed that transcripts involved in remodeling of the cuticle, growth, and digestion correlated with the response to environmental change in .. Furthermore, we used an orthology-based approach to gain functional information for transcripts lacking gene ontology (GO) information, as well as insights into the evolutionary conservation of transcripts. We could show that our candidate transcripts have orthologs in other species but almost none in other arthropods. The unique combination of methods allowed us to identify candidate transcripts, their putative functions, and evolutionary history associated with predator-induced responses in . Our study opens up to the question as to whether the same molecular signature is associated with fish kairomones-mediated life-history changes in other species.
表型可塑性反应使生物体在面对环境挑战时能够迅速做出调整——这些反应包括形态、行为以及生活史的变化。在生态和基因组模式生物中，经常报道暴露于捕食风险时生活史特征的改变。然而，这种反应的分子基础尚未得到很好的理解，尤其是在鱼类捕食的背景下。在这里，我们对暴露于鱼类信息素时具有相反生活史的两个克隆系的转录谱进行了表征。首先，我们进行了差异基因表达分析，共鉴定出125个参与捕食者诱导反应的候选转录本，揭示了大量的种内变异。其次，我们应用基因共表达网络分析来寻找紧密相连的转录本簇，揭示捕食者诱导反应背后转录本的功能关系。我们的结果表明，参与表皮重塑、生长和消化的转录本与对环境变化的反应相关。此外，我们使用基于直系同源的方法来获取缺乏基因本体（GO）信息的转录本的功能信息，以及对转录本进化保守性的见解。我们可以证明，我们的候选转录本在其他物种中有直系同源物，但在其他节肢动物中几乎没有。这些方法的独特组合使我们能够识别与捕食者诱导反应相关的候选转录本、它们的假定功能和进化历史。我们的研究提出了一个问题，即相同的分子特征是否与其他物种中鱼类信息素介导的生活史变化相关。
