Project 12
Extra-genetic inheritance and adaptation to novel environments

Led by Tobias Uller

This project tests recent models of extra-genetic inheritance using state-of-the-art –omics methods to document stress responses of the water flea, Daphnia magna, to toxic cyanobacteria. We are studying how these responses influence later generations through maternal effects and how natural selection subsequently shapes inheritance depending on environmental conditions.

Publications

Timing of maternal exposure to toxic cyanobacteria and offspring fitness in Daphnia magna: Implications for the evolution of anticipatory maternal effects.
[download PDF]
Radersma R, Hegg A, Noble DWA, Uller T. 2018. Ecology and Evolution DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4700.

EES predictions this project tests

i. phenotypic accommodation can precede, rather than follow, genetic change, in adaptive evolution
ii. novel phenotypic variants will frequently be directional and functional
iii. novel, evolutionarily consequential, phenotypic variants will frequently be environmentally induced in multiple individuals
vi. in addition to selection, adaptive variants are propagated through repeated environmental induction, non-genetic inheritance, learning and cultural transmission
vii. rapid phenotypic evolution can be frequent and can result from the simultaneous induction and selection of functional variants
ix. heritable variation will be systematically biased towards variants that are adaptive and well-integrated with existing aspects of the phenotype