Open AccessA single-nucleotide change underlies the genetic assimilation of a plastic trait
Author(s) -
Paul Vigne,
Clotilde Gimond,
Céline Ferrari,
Anne Vielle,
Johan Hallin,
Ania PinoQuerido,
Sonia El Mouridi,
Laure Mignerot,
Christian Frøkjær-Jensen,
Thomas Boulin,
Henrique Teotónio,
Christian Braendle
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
science advances
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.928
H-Index - 146
ISSN - 2375-2548
DOI - 10.1126/sciadv.abd9941
Subject(s) - biology , genetics , caenorhabditis elegans , phenotype , trait , natural selection , mutant , evolutionary biology , gene , selection (genetic algorithm) , computer science , programming language , artificial intelligence
Genetic assimilation-the evolutionary process by which an environmentally induced phenotype is made constitutive-represents a fundamental concept in evolutionary biology. Thought to reflect adaptive phenotypic plasticity, matricidal hatching in nematodes is triggered by maternal nutrient deprivation to allow for protection or resource provisioning of offspring. Here, we report natural Caenorhabditis elegans populations harboring genetic variants expressing a derived state of near-constitutive matricidal hatching. These variants exhibit a single amino acid change (V530L) in KCNL-1, a small-conductance calcium-activated potassium channel subunit. This gain-of-function mutation causes matricidal hatching by strongly reducing the sensitivity to environmental stimuli triggering egg-laying. We show that reestablishing the canonical KCNL-1 protein in matricidal isolates is sufficient to restore canonical egg-laying. While highly deleterious in constant food environments, KCNL-1 V530L is maintained under fluctuating resource availability. A single point mutation can therefore underlie the genetic assimilation-by either genetic drift or selection-of an ancestrally plastic trait.