Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Genome Biol Evol. 2024 Apr 2;16(4). doi: 10.1093/gbe/evae077.
Most traits are polygenic, and the contributing loci can be identified by genome-wide association studies. The genetic basis of adaptation (adaptive architecture) is, however, difficult to characterize. Here, we propose to study the adaptive architecture of traits by monitoring the evolution of their phenotypic variance during adaptation to a new environment in well-defined laboratory conditions. Extensive computer simulations show that the evolution of phenotypic variance in a replicated experimental evolution setting can distinguish between oligogenic and polygenic adaptive architectures. We compared gene expression variance in male Drosophila simulans before and after 100 generations of adaptation to a novel hot environment. The variance change in gene expression was indistinguishable for genes with and without a significant change in mean expression after 100 generations of evolution. We suggest that the majority of adaptive gene expression evolution can be explained by a polygenic architecture. We propose that tracking the evolution of phenotypic variance across generations can provide an approach to characterize the adaptive architecture.
大多数性状是多基因的，通过全基因组关联研究可以鉴定其相关基因座。然而，适应（适应性结构）的遗传基础很难描述。在这里，我们建议通过在明确的实验室条件下监测性状在适应新环境过程中表型方差的演变来研究性状的适应性结构。广泛的计算机模拟表明，在复制的实验进化环境中，表型方差的进化可以区分少基因和多基因的适应性结构。我们比较了在适应新热环境 100 代后雄性果蝇 simulans 之前和之后的基因表达方差。在 100 代进化后，表达均值有显著变化和没有显著变化的基因的基因表达方差变化没有区别。我们认为，大多数适应性基因表达进化可以用多基因结构来解释。我们建议，跨代跟踪表型方差的进化可以提供一种描述适应性结构的方法。
