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Thermal tolerance in the keystone species Daphnia magna—a candidate gene and an outlier analysis approach

Jansen, M. ; Geerts, A. N. ; Rago, Alfredo LU ; Spanier, K. I. ; Denis, C. ; De Meester, L. and Orsini, L. (2017) In Molecular Ecology 26(8). p.2291-2305
Abstract
Changes in temperature have occurred throughout Earth's history. However, current warming trends exacerbated by human activities impose severe and rapid loss of biodiversity. Although understanding the mechanisms orchestrating organismal response to climate change is important, remarkably few studies document their role in nature. This is because only few systems enable the combined analysis of genetic and plastic responses to environmental change over long time spans. Here, we characterize genetic and plastic responses to temperature increase in the aquatic keystone grazer Daphnia magna combining a candidate gene and an outlier analysis approach. We capitalize on the short generation time of our species, facilitating experimental... (More)
Changes in temperature have occurred throughout Earth's history. However, current warming trends exacerbated by human activities impose severe and rapid loss of biodiversity. Although understanding the mechanisms orchestrating organismal response to climate change is important, remarkably few studies document their role in nature. This is because only few systems enable the combined analysis of genetic and plastic responses to environmental change over long time spans. Here, we characterize genetic and plastic responses to temperature increase in the aquatic keystone grazer Daphnia magna combining a candidate gene and an outlier analysis approach. We capitalize on the short generation time of our species, facilitating experimental evolution, and the production of dormant eggs enabling the analysis of long-term response to environmental change through a resurrection ecology approach. We quantify plasticity in the expression of 35 candidate genes in D. magna populations resurrected from a lake that experienced changes in average temperature over the past century and from experimental populations differing in thermal tolerance isolated from a selection experiment. By measuring expression in multiple genotypes from each of these populations in control and heat treatments, we assess plastic responses to extreme temperature events. By measuring evolutionary changes in gene expression between warm- and cold-adapted populations, we assess evolutionary response to temperature changes. Evolutionary response to temperature increase is also assessed via an outlier analysis using EST-linked microsatellite loci. This study provides the first insights into the role of plasticity and genetic adaptation in orchestrating adaptive responses to environmental change in D. magna. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
adaptation, climate change, contemporary evolution, crustaceans, gene structure and function, molecular evolution
in
Molecular Ecology
volume
26
issue
8
pages
15 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:28146303
  • scopus:85014499780
ISSN
0962-1083
DOI
10.1111/mec.14040
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
0f08231b-8257-4c6f-88b4-a6c38ae5a03c
date added to LUP
2018-02-08 15:39:12
date last changed
2022-02-07 18:42:27
@article{0f08231b-8257-4c6f-88b4-a6c38ae5a03c,
  abstract     = {{Changes in temperature have occurred throughout Earth's history. However, current warming trends exacerbated by human activities impose severe and rapid loss of biodiversity. Although understanding the mechanisms orchestrating organismal response to climate change is important, remarkably few studies document their role in nature. This is because only few systems enable the combined analysis of genetic and plastic responses to environmental change over long time spans. Here, we characterize genetic and plastic responses to temperature increase in the aquatic keystone grazer Daphnia magna combining a candidate gene and an outlier analysis approach. We capitalize on the short generation time of our species, facilitating experimental evolution, and the production of dormant eggs enabling the analysis of long-term response to environmental change through a resurrection ecology approach. We quantify plasticity in the expression of 35 candidate genes in D. magna populations resurrected from a lake that experienced changes in average temperature over the past century and from experimental populations differing in thermal tolerance isolated from a selection experiment. By measuring expression in multiple genotypes from each of these populations in control and heat treatments, we assess plastic responses to extreme temperature events. By measuring evolutionary changes in gene expression between warm- and cold-adapted populations, we assess evolutionary response to temperature changes. Evolutionary response to temperature increase is also assessed via an outlier analysis using EST-linked microsatellite loci. This study provides the first insights into the role of plasticity and genetic adaptation in orchestrating adaptive responses to environmental change in D. magna.}},
  author       = {{Jansen, M. and Geerts, A. N. and Rago, Alfredo and Spanier, K. I. and Denis, C. and De Meester, L. and Orsini, L.}},
  issn         = {{0962-1083}},
  keywords     = {{adaptation; climate change; contemporary evolution; crustaceans; gene structure and function; molecular evolution}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{2291--2305}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Molecular Ecology}},
  title        = {{Thermal tolerance in the keystone species Daphnia magna—a candidate gene and an outlier analysis approach}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.14040}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/mec.14040}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}