Understanding the evolutionary potential of epigenetic variation: a comparison of heritable phenotypic variation in epiRILs, RILs, and natural ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana
Understanding the evolutionary potential of epigenetic variation: a comparison of heritable phenotypic variation in epiRILs, RILs, and natural ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana
复制标题
了解表观遗传变异的进化潜力：epiRIL、RIL 和拟南芥自然生态型中可遗传表型变异的比较
DOI：
10.1038/s41437-018-0095-9
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发表时间：
2018-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Bossdorf, Oliver
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zhang, Yuan-Ye;Latzel, Vit;Bossdorf, Oliver
越来越多的证据表明，表观遗传变异内和之间的天然植物种群，导致了许多猜测，其在植物表型进化的作用。然而，我们对表观遗传变异的进化潜力的理解仍然非常有限，特别是与基于DNA序列的变异相比。为了解决这个问题，我们比较了拟南芥表观遗传重组自交系（epiRILs）与其他类型的拟南芥的表观遗传表型变异的大小，这些表观遗传重组自交系主要在DNA甲基化方面不同，但在DNA序列方面差异很小。在DNA序列上也有很大不同的thalianalines。我们生长的两个epiRIL群体的子集与两个遗传RIL群体的子集，自然生态型集合，和线从一个自然群体在一个共同的环境中，并评估其遗传变异的增长，物候，和健身。表型变异和广义遗传力在自然生态型中最大，但某些性状的表型变异和广义遗传力在基因重组自交系和自然生态型中相当。在epiRILs、RILs和生态型中，行内表型变异大体相似。如果epiRILs中的表型变异主要是由表观遗传差异引起的，而RILs和天然系中的表型变异主要是由序列变异引起的，则我们的研究结果表明，表观遗传变异有可能产生稳定和大量的表型变异，从而具有进化意义。
Increasing evidence for epigenetic variation within and among natural plant populations has led to much speculation about its role in the evolution of plant phenotypes. However, we still have a very limited understanding of the evolutionary potential of epigenetic variation, in particular in comparison to DNA sequence-based variation. To address this question, we compared the magnitudes of heritable phenotypic variation in epigenetic recombinant inbred lines (epiRILs) ofArabidopsis thaliana—lines that mainly differ in DNA methylation but only very little in DNA sequence—with other types ofA. thalianalines that differ strongly also in DNA sequence. We grew subsets of two epiRIL populations with subsets of two genetic RIL populations, of natural ecotype collections, and of lines from a natural population in a common environment and assessed their heritable variation in growth, phenology, and fitness. Among-line phenotypic variation and broad-sense heritabilities tended to be largest in natural ecotypes, but for some traits the variation among epiRILs was comparable to that among RILs and natural ecotypes. Within-line phenotypic variation was generally similar in epiRILs, RILs, and ecotypes. Provided that phenotypic variation in epiRILs is mainly caused by epigenetic differences, whereas in RILs and natural lines it is largely driven by sequence variation, our results indicate that epigenetic variation has the potential to create phenotypic variation that is stable and substantial, and thus of evolutionary significance.