Strain Specific Genotype−Environment Interactions and Evolutionary Potential for Body Mass in Brook Charr (Salvelinus fontinalis)

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Abstract

Discriminating between genetic and environmental causes of phenotypic variation is an essential requirement for understanding the evolutionary potential of populations. However, the extent to which genetic variation differs among conspecific groups and environments during ontogeny has rarely been investigated. In this study, the genetic basis of body mass was measured in three divergent strains of brook charr ( Salvelinus fontinalis) in different rearing environments and at different time periods. The results indicate that body mass was a heritable trait in all strains but that the level of heritability greatly differed among strains. Moreover, heritability estimates of each strain varied differently according to environmental rearing conditions, and cross-environments correlations were all significantly lower than unity, indicating strain-specific patterns of genotype–environment interactions. Heritability estimates also varied throughout ontogeny and decreased by 50% from 9 to 21 months of age. This study highlights the divergence in genetic architecture and evolutionary potential among these strains and emphasizes the importance of considering the strain-specific potential of the response to selection according to environmental variation.

Most cited references 32

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Keeping up with a warming world; assessing the rate of adaptation to climate change.

Marcel E Visser (2008)

The pivotal question in the debate on the ecological effects of climate change is whether species will be able to adapt fast enough to keep up with their changing environment. If we establish the maximal rate of adaptation, this will set an upper limit to the rate at which temperatures can increase without loss of biodiversity. The rate of adaptation will primarily be set by the rate of microevolution since (i) phenotypic plasticity alone is not sufficient as reaction norms will no longer be adaptive and hence microevolution on the reaction norm is needed, (ii) learning will be favourable to the individual but cannot be passed on to the next generations, (iii) maternal effects may play a role but, as with other forms of phenotypic plasticity, the response of offspring to the maternal cues will no longer be adaptive in a changing environment, and (iv) adaptation via immigration of individuals with genotypes adapted to warmer environments also involves microevolution as these genotypes are better adapted in terms of temperature, but not in terms of, for instance, photoperiod.Long-term studies on wild populations with individually known animals play an essential role in detecting and understanding the temporal trends in life-history traits, and to estimate the heritability of, and selection pressures on, life-history traits. However, additional measurements on other trophic levels and on the mechanisms underlying phenotypic plasticity are needed to predict the rate of microevolution, especially under changing conditions. Using this knowledge on heritability of, and selection on, life-history traits, in combination with climate scenarios, we will be able to predict the rate of adaptation for different climate scenarios. The final step is to use ecoevolutionary dynamical models to make the link to population viability and from there to biodiversity loss for those scenarios where the rate of adaptation is insufficient.

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Heritable variation and evolution under favourable and unfavourable conditions.

Ary Hoffmann, Juha Merilä (1999)

Genetic variability in quantitative traits can change as a direct response to the environmental conditions in which they are expressed. Consequently, similar selection in different environments might not be equally effective in leading to adaptation. Several hypotheses, including recent ones that focus on the historical impact of selection on populations, predict that the expression of genetic variation will increase in unfavourable conditions. However, other hypotheses lead to the opposite prediction. Although a consensus is unlikely, recent Drosophila and bird studies suggest consistent trends for morphological traits under particular conditions.

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A critical review of adaptive genetic variation in Atlantic salmon: implications for conservation.

C. García de Leániz, I. Fleming, S Einum … (2007)

Here we critically review the scale and extent of adaptive genetic variation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), an important model system in evolutionary and conservation biology that provides fundamental insights into population persistence, adaptive response and the effects of anthropogenic change. We consider the process of adaptation as the end product of natural selection, one that can best be viewed as the degree of matching between phenotype and environment. We recognise three potential sources of adaptive variation: heritable variation in phenotypic traits related to fitness, variation at the molecular level in genes influenced by selection, and variation in the way genes interact with the environment to produce phenotypes of varying plasticity. Of all phenotypic traits examined, variation in body size (or in correlated characters such as growth rates, age of seaward migration or age at sexual maturity) generally shows the highest heritability, as well as a strong effect on fitness. Thus, body size in Atlantic salmon tends to be positively correlated with freshwater and marine survival, as well as with fecundity, egg size, reproductive success, and offspring survival. By contrast, the fitness implications of variation in behavioural traits such as aggression, sheltering behaviour, or timing of migration are largely unknown. The adaptive significance of molecular variation in salmonids is also scant and largely circumstantial, despite extensive molecular screening on these species. Adaptive variation can result in local adaptations (LA) when, among other necessary conditions, populations live in patchy environments, exchange few or no migrants, and are subjected to differential selective pressures. Evidence for LA in Atlantic salmon is indirect and comes mostly from ecological correlates in fitness-related traits, the failure of many translocations, the poor performance of domesticated stocks, results of a few common-garden experiments (where different populations were raised in a common environment in an attempt to dissociate heritable from environmentally induced phenotypic variation), and the pattern of inherited resistance to some parasites and diseases. Genotype x environment interactions occurr for many fitness traits, suggesting that LA might be important. However, the scale and extent of adaptive variation remains poorly understood and probably varies, depending on habitat heterogeneity, environmental stability and the relative roles of selection and drift. As maladaptation often results from phenotype-environment mismatch, we argue that acting as if populations are not locally adapted carries a much greater risk of mismanagement than acting under the assumption for local adaptations when there are none. As such, an evolutionary approach to salmon conservation is required, aimed at maintaining the conditions necessary for natural selection to operate most efficiently and unhindered. This may require minimising alterations to native genotypes and habitats to which populations have likely become adapted, but also allowing for population size to reach or extend beyond carrying capacity to encourage competition and other sources of natural mortality.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): G3 (Bethesda)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Genetics

Journal ID (hwp): G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics

Journal ID (pmc): G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics

Journal ID (publisher-id): G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics

Title: G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics

Publisher: Genetics Society of America

ISSN (Electronic): 2160-1836

Publication date (Electronic): 1 March 2013

Publication date Collection: March 2013

Volume: 3

Issue: 3

Pages: 379-386

Affiliations

[* ]Institut des Sciences de la Mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, QC, G5L 3A1, Canada

[† ]Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Département de biologie, Université Laval, Québec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

[‡ ]Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K 2R1, Canada

Author notes

[1 ]Corresponding author: Institut des Sciences de la Mer de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 310 allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, Québec, G5L 3A1, Canada. E-mail: celine_audet@ 123456uqar.qc.ca

Supporting information is available online at http://www.g3journal.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1534/g3.112.005017/-/DC1

Article

Publisher ID: GGG_005017

DOI: 10.1534/g3.112.005017

PMC ID: 3583447

PubMed ID: 23450764

SO-VID: a0f06907-1f76-4bb1-a1fd-f873040ef114

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Unported License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 16 November 2012

Date accepted : 19 December 2012

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Genetics

Keywords: heritability,evolutionary potential,gene−environment interactions,genetic architecture,strains

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Genetics

Keywords: heritability, evolutionary potential, gene−environment interactions, genetic architecture, strains

Strain Specific Genotype−Environment Interactions and Evolutionary Potential for Body Mass in Brook Charr ( Salvelinus fontinalis)

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Abstract

Most cited references 32

Keeping up with a warming world; assessing the rate of adaptation to climate change.

Heritable variation and evolution under favourable and unfavourable conditions.

A critical review of adaptive genetic variation in Atlantic salmon: implications for conservation.

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