Am Nat. 2021 Apr;197(4):486-501. doi: 10.1086/712930. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
AbstractPhenotypic plasticity is expected to facilitate the persistence of natural populations as global change progresses. The attributes of fluctuating environments that favor the evolution of plasticity have received extensive theoretical investigation, yet empirical validation of these findings is still in its infancy. Here, we combine high-resolution environmental data with a laboratory-based experiment to explore the influence of habitat pH fluctuation dynamics on the plasticity of gene expression in two populations of the Mediterranean mussel, . We linked differences in the magnitude and predictability of pH fluctuations in two habitats to population-specific gene expression profiles in ambient and stressful pH treatments. Our results demonstrate population-based differentiation in gene expression plasticity, whereby mussels native to a habitat exhibiting a large magnitude of pH fluctuations with low predictability display reduced phenotypic plasticity between experimentally imposed pH treatments. This work validates recent theoretical findings on evolution in fluctuating environments, suggesting that the predictability of fluctuating selection pressures may play a predominant role in shaping the phenotypic variation observed across natural populations.
摘要表型可塑性有望促进自然种群在全球变化中的持续存在。已经广泛研究了有利于可塑性进化的波动环境属性，但这些发现的实证验证仍处于起步阶段。在这里，我们结合高分辨率环境数据和基于实验室的实验，探索了栖息地 pH 波动动态对两种地中海贻贝（Mytilus galloprovincialis）基因表达可塑性的影响。我们将两个栖息地 pH 波动幅度和可预测性的差异与环境和应激 pH 处理中特定种群的基因表达谱联系起来。我们的结果表明，基因表达可塑性存在基于种群的差异，在具有低可预测性的大 pH 波动幅度的栖息地中，贻贝的表型可塑性在实验施加的 pH 处理之间降低。这项工作验证了波动环境进化的最新理论发现，表明波动选择压力的可预测性可能在塑造自然种群中观察到的表型变异方面发挥主导作用。
