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A window into the transcriptomic basis of genotype‐by‐genotype interactions in the legume–rhizobia mutualism
Author(s) -
Wood Corlett W.,
Stinchcombe John R.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.14370
Subject(s) - biology , mutualism (biology) , rhizobia , genotype , genetic variation , evolutionary biology , genetics , ecology , symbiosis , gene , bacteria
The maintenance of genetic variation in the benefits provided by mutualists is an evolutionary puzzle (Heath & Stinchcombe, [Heath, K. D., 2014]). Over time, natural selection should favour the benefit strategy that confers the highest fitness, eroding genetic variation in partner quality. Yet abundant genetic variation in partner quality exists in many systems (Heath & Stinchcombe, [Heath, K. D., 2014]). One possible resolution to this puzzle is that the genetic identity of both a host and its partner affects the benefits each mutualist provides to the other, a pattern known as a genotype‐by‐genotype interaction (Figure [Figure 1. A genotype‐by‐genotype interaction for partner quality between two hypothetical ...]). Mounting evidence suggests that genotype‐by‐genotype interactions between partners are pervasive at the phenotypic level (Barrett, Zee, Bever, Miller, & Thrall, [Barrett, L. G., 2016]; Heath, [Heath, K. D., 2010]; Hoeksema & Thompson, [Hoeksema, J. D., 2007]). Ultimately, however, to link these phenotypic patterns to the maintenance of genetic variation in mutualisms we need to answer two questions: How much variation in mutualism phenotypes is attributable to genotype‐by‐genotype interactions, and what mutualistic functions are influenced by each partner and by the interaction between their genomes? In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Burghardt et al. (2017) use transcriptomics to address both questions in the legume–rhizobia mutualism.