Gene flow and selection on phenotypic plasticity in an island system of Rana temporaria.

Gene flow is often considered to be one of the main factors that constrains local adaptation in a heterogeneous environment. However, gene flow may also lead to the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. We investigated the effect of gene flow on local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in development time in island populations of the common frog Rana temporaria which breed in pools that differ in drying regimes. This was done by investigating associations between traits (measured in a common garden experiment) and selective factors (pool drying regimes and gene flow from other populations inhabiting different environments) by regression analyses and by comparing pairwise F(ST) values (obtained from microsatellite analyses) with pairwise Q(ST) values. We found that the degree of phenotypic plasticity was positively correlated with gene flow from other populations inhabiting different environments (among-island environmental heterogeneity), as well as with local environmental heterogeneity within each population. Furthermore, local adaptation, manifested in the correlation between development time and the degree of pool drying on the islands, appears to have been caused by divergent selection pressures. The local adaptation in development time and phenotypic plasticity is quite remarkable, because the populations are young (less than 300 generations) and substantial gene flow is present among islands.

Lind MI ，Ingvarsson PK ，Johansson H ，Hall D ，Johansson F ... -  《-》

The degree of adaptive phenotypic plasticity is correlated with the spatial environmental heterogeneity experienced by island populations of Rana temporaria.

Lind MI ，Johansson F 《JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY》

Local selection modifies phenotypic divergence among Rana temporaria populations in the presence of gene flow.

Richter-Boix A ，Teplitsky C ，Rogell B ，Laurila A ... -  《-》

Costs and limits of phenotypic plasticity in island populations of the common frog Rana temporaria under divergent selection pressures.

Lind MI ，Johansson F 《-》

Phenotypic plasticity in the hepatic transcriptome of the European common frog (Rana temporaria): the interplay between environmental induction and geographical lineage on developmental response.

Phenotypic plasticity might facilitate adaptation to new environmental conditions through the enhancement of initial survival of organisms. Once a population is established, further adaptation and diversification may occur through adaptive trait evolution. While several studies have found evidence for this mechanism using phenotypic traits, much less is known at the level of gene expression. Here, we use an islands system of frog populations that show local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity to pool drying conditions in development time until metamorphoses. We examined gene expression differences in Rana temporaria tadpole livers with respect to pool drying at the source population and in response to simulated pool drying in the laboratory. Using a MAGEX cDNA microarray and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), we identified an increase in several gene transcripts in response to artificial pool drying including thyroid hormone receptor alpha and beta, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1, ornithine transcarbamylase and catalase. In addition, these gene transcripts also showed greater abundance in island populations that developed faster. Hence, the gene transcripts were related to both constitutive response (higher levels in island populations that developed faster) and plastic response (increased abundance under decreasing water levels). This pattern is in accordance with genetic accommodation, which predicts similarities between plastic gene expression and constitutive expression in locally adapted populations.

Johansson F ，Veldhoen N ，Lind MI ，Helbing CC ... -  《-》