An integrated genomic approach to study evolution of plasticity

Biodiversity is rapidly declining due to human-induced habitat destruction, overexploitation of natural resources and climate change.

Understanding how organisms are adapted to their environment is therefore of fundamental importance to preserve biodiversity.

One of the main ways by which organisms can respond to rapid environmental change is through phenotypic plasticity, the ability of an individual to express different phenotypes when exposed to different environmental conditions.

The research I propose here combines molecular insights of phenotypic plasticity across species with the consequences this has on genetic diversity of populations and build upon the findings in my prior VR funded research where I have developed water striders as a model system to study wing polyphenism.

We have experimentally identified the gene regulatory network (GRN) behind wing polyphenism and functionally validated this with RNAi.

Here I propose to build on these results to examine:1) How does an environmental cue get co-opted onto a gene regulatory network to modify expression?2) Are the same genes involved in parallel evolution of wing polyphenism observed in water striders?3) What consequences does geographic variation in plasticity at the molecular level have on the level of inbreeding and genetic diversity of populations?