Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 4;15(1):6606. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50359-0.
Epigenetic modifications, such as 5-methylcytosine (5mC), can sometimes be transmitted between generations, provoking speculation that epigenetic changes could play a role in adaptation and evolution. Here, we use experimental evolution to investigate how 5mC levels evolve in populations of biparental insect (Nicrophorus vespilloides) derived from a wild source population and maintained independently under different regimes of parental care in the lab. We show that 5mC levels in the transcribed regions of genes (gene bodies) diverge between populations that have been exposed to different levels of care for 30 generations. These changes in 5mC do not reflect changes in the levels of gene expression. However, the accumulation of 5mC within genes between populations is associated with reduced variability in gene expression within populations. Our results suggest that evolved change in 5mC could contribute to phenotypic evolution by influencing variability in gene expression in invertebrates.
表观遗传修饰，如 5-甲基胞嘧啶（5mC），有时可以在代际间传递，这引发了人们的猜测，即表观遗传变化可能在适应和进化中发挥作用。在这里，我们使用实验进化来研究源自野生种群的双亲昆虫（Nicrophorus vespilloides）种群中 5mC 水平如何在实验室中不同的亲代照料制度下独立进化。我们表明，暴露于不同照料水平 30 代的种群之间，基因转录区域（基因体）的 5mC 水平存在差异。这些 5mC 的变化并不反映基因表达水平的变化。然而，种群间基因内 5mC 的积累与种群内基因表达变异性的降低有关。我们的结果表明，5mC 的进化变化可能通过影响无脊椎动物基因表达的变异性来促进表型进化。
