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Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments
Epigenetic regulation of gene expression allows for the emergence of distinct phenotypic states within the clonal population. Due to the instability of epigenetic inheritance, these phenotypes can intergenerationally switch between states in a stochastic manner. Theoretical studies of evolutionary d...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9113428/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35567483 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evac065 |
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author | Stajic, Dragan Bank, Claudia Gordo, Isabel |
author_facet | Stajic, Dragan Bank, Claudia Gordo, Isabel |
author_sort | Stajic, Dragan |
collection | PubMed |
description | Epigenetic regulation of gene expression allows for the emergence of distinct phenotypic states within the clonal population. Due to the instability of epigenetic inheritance, these phenotypes can intergenerationally switch between states in a stochastic manner. Theoretical studies of evolutionary dynamics predict that the phenotypic heterogeneity enabled by this rapid epigenetic switching between gene expression states would be favored under fluctuating environmental conditions, whereas genetic mutations, as a form of stable inheritance system, would be favored under a stable environment. To test this prediction, we engineered switcher and non-switcher yeast strains, in which the uracil biosynthesis gene URA3 is either continually expressed or switched on and off at two different rates (slow and fast switchers). Competitions between clones with an epigenetically controlled URA3 and clones without switching ability (SIR3 knockout) show that the switchers are favored in fluctuating environments. This occurs in conditions where the environments fluctuate at similar rates to the rate of switching. However, in stable environments, but also in environments with fluctuation frequency higher than the rate of switching, we observed that genetic changes dominated. Remarkably, epigenetic clones with a high, but not with a low, rate of switching can coexist with non-switchers even in a constant environment. Our study offers an experimental proof of concept that helps defining conditions of environmental fluctuation under which epigenetic switching provides an advantage. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9113428 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-91134282022-05-18 Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments Stajic, Dragan Bank, Claudia Gordo, Isabel Genome Biol Evol Research Article Epigenetic regulation of gene expression allows for the emergence of distinct phenotypic states within the clonal population. Due to the instability of epigenetic inheritance, these phenotypes can intergenerationally switch between states in a stochastic manner. Theoretical studies of evolutionary dynamics predict that the phenotypic heterogeneity enabled by this rapid epigenetic switching between gene expression states would be favored under fluctuating environmental conditions, whereas genetic mutations, as a form of stable inheritance system, would be favored under a stable environment. To test this prediction, we engineered switcher and non-switcher yeast strains, in which the uracil biosynthesis gene URA3 is either continually expressed or switched on and off at two different rates (slow and fast switchers). Competitions between clones with an epigenetically controlled URA3 and clones without switching ability (SIR3 knockout) show that the switchers are favored in fluctuating environments. This occurs in conditions where the environments fluctuate at similar rates to the rate of switching. However, in stable environments, but also in environments with fluctuation frequency higher than the rate of switching, we observed that genetic changes dominated. Remarkably, epigenetic clones with a high, but not with a low, rate of switching can coexist with non-switchers even in a constant environment. Our study offers an experimental proof of concept that helps defining conditions of environmental fluctuation under which epigenetic switching provides an advantage. Oxford University Press 2022-05-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9113428/ /pubmed/35567483 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evac065 Text en © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Stajic, Dragan Bank, Claudia Gordo, Isabel Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments |
title | Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments |
title_full | Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments |
title_fullStr | Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments |
title_full_unstemmed | Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments |
title_short | Adaptive Potential of Epigenetic Switching During Adaptation to Fluctuating Environments |
title_sort | adaptive potential of epigenetic switching during adaptation to fluctuating environments |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9113428/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35567483 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evac065 |
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