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Most Colorful Example of Genetic Assimilation? Exploring the Evolutionary Destiny of Recurrent Phenotypic Accommodation
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Dept Ecol & Evolut BiolIssue Date
2017-08-02
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
UNIV CHICAGO PRESSCitation
Most Colorful Example of Genetic Assimilation? Exploring the Evolutionary Destiny of Recurrent Phenotypic Accommodation 2017, 190 (2):266 The American NaturalistJournal
The American NaturalistRights
© 2017 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Evolution of adaptation requires both generation of novel phenotypic variation and retention of a locally beneficial subset of this variation. Such retention can be facilitated by genetic assimilation, the accumulation of genetic and molecular mechanisms that stabilize induced phenotypes and assume progressively greater control over their reliable production. A particularly strong inference into genetic assimilation as an evolutionary process requires a system where it is possible to directly evaluate the extent to which an induced phenotype is progressively incorporated into preexisting developmental pathways. Evolution of diet-dependent pigmentation in birds-where external carotenoids are coopted into internal metabolism to a variable degree before being integrated with a feather's developmental processes-provides such an opportunity. Here we combine a metabolic network view of carotenoid evolution with detailed empirical study of feather modifications to show that the effect of physical properties of carotenoids on feather structure depends on their metabolic modification, their environmental recurrence, and biochemical redundancy, as predicted by the genetic assimilation hypothesis. Metabolized carotenoids caused less stochastic variation in feather structure and were more closely integrated with feather growth than were dietary carotenoids of the same molecular weight. These patterns were driven by the recurrence of organism-carotenoid associations: commonly used dietary carotenoids and biochemically redundant derived carotenoids caused less stochastic variation in feather structure than did rarely used or biochemically unique compounds. We discuss implications of genetic assimilation processes for the evolutionary diversification of diet-dependent animal coloration.Note
12 month embargo; Published online: 15 May 2017ISSN
0003-01471537-5323
DOI
10.1086/692327Version
Final published versionSponsors
National Science Foundation; Packard Foundation Fellowship; Galileo FellowshipAdditional Links
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/692327ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1086/692327