Journal article
Gene regulation underlies environmental adaptation in house mice
Genome research, v 28(11), pp 1636-1645
Nov 2018
PMCID: PMC6211637
PMID: 30194096
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Changes in
-regulatory regions are thought to play a major role in the genetic basis of adaptation. However, few studies have linked
-regulatory variation with adaptation in natural populations. Here, using a combination of exome and RNA-seq data, we performed expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping and allele-specific expression analyses to study the genetic architecture of regulatory variation in wild house mice (
) using individuals from five populations collected along a latitudinal cline in eastern North America. Mice in this transect showed clinal patterns of variation in several traits, including body mass. Mice were larger in more northern latitudes, in accordance with Bergmann's rule. We identified 17 genes where
-eQTLs were clinal outliers and for which expression level was correlated with latitude. Among these clinal outliers, we identified two genes (
and
) with
-eQTLs that were associated with adaptive body mass variation and for which expression is correlated with body mass both within and between populations. Finally, we performed a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify expression modules associated with measures of body size variation in these mice. These findings demonstrate the power of combining gene expression data with scans for selection to identify genes involved in adaptive phenotypic evolution, and also provide strong evidence for
-regulatory elements as essential loci of environmental adaptation in natural populations.
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Details
- Title
- Gene regulation underlies environmental adaptation in house mice
- Creators
- Katya L Mack - Museum of Vertebrate ZoologyMallory A Ballinger - Museum of Vertebrate ZoologyMegan Phifer-Rixey - Monmouth UniversityMichael W Nachman - Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
- Publication Details
- Genome research, v 28(11), pp 1636-1645
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Grant note
- R01 GM074245 / NIGMS NIH HHS
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000448950400004
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85055912580
- Other Identifier
- 991021229880904721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
- Genetics & Heredity