The attribution of phenotypic variation to genetic or environmental variation in ecological studies

The aim of the study was to analyse the genotypic and environmental variation in yield, as well as the structure of the yield of tubers of medium-early cultivars of edible potato. The field study was carried out in the years 2015-2019 at the experimental station in Prusy near Krakow (50o07ʼN, 20o05ʼE) on chernozem. The following five potato cultivars were evaluated: Finezja, Oberon, Laskara, Satina and Tajfun. The total and commercial yield of tubers, the average tuber mass, the quantity of tubers from a plant, as well as the share of the fraction of large, commercial and small tubers were determined in the study. Of the potato features that were evaluated, the share of the commercial tuber fraction was the most stable. A low diversity was also found in the case of total and commercial yield of tubers, whereas the share of the fraction of small tubers was the least stable feature. The size of yields and their structure were determined mostly by environmental factors. Only in the case of the share of fractions of large and small tubers were the varietal properties more decisive than the genotypic-environmental interaction. The conducted cluster analysis identified two groups of cultivars: first—with a high yielding potential, substantial average tuber mass, a substantial share of commercial and large tubers; and second—with significantly lower tuber mass, substantial quantity of set tubers, particularly the fine ones with a simultaneous small share of large tubers.

Download Full-text

Expansive Phenotypic Landscape of Botrytis cinerea Shows Differential Contribution of Genetic Diversity and Plasticity

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions ◽

10.1094/mpmi-09-15-0196-r ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 287-298 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Jason A. Corwin ◽

Anushriya Subedy ◽

Robert Eshbaugh ◽

Daniel J. Kliebenstein

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Genetic Variation ◽

Botrytis Cinerea ◽

Phenotypic Variation ◽

Genotypic Variation ◽

Environmental Variation ◽

In Planta ◽

Phenotypic Differences ◽

Relative Contribution

The modern evolutionary synthesis suggests that both environmental variation and genetic diversity are critical determinants of pathogen success. However, the relative contribution of these two sources of variation is not routinely measured. To estimate the relative contribution of plasticity and genetic diversity for virulence-associated phenotypes in a generalist plant pathogen, we grew a population of 15 isolates of Botrytis cinerea from throughout the world, under a variety of in vitro and in planta conditions. Under in planta conditions, phenotypic differences between the isolates were determined by the combination of genotypic variation within the pathogen and environmental variation. In contrast, phenotypic differences between the isolates under in vitro conditions were predominantly determined by genetic variation in the pathogen. Using a correlation network approach, we link the phenotypic variation under in vitro experimental conditions to phenotypic variation during plant infection. This study indicates that there is a high level of phenotypic variation within B. cinerea that is controlled by a mixture of genetic variation, environment, and genotype × environment. This argues that future experiments into the pathogenicity of B. cinerea must account for the genetic and environmental variation within the pathogen to better sample the potential phenotypic space of the pathogen.

Download Full-text

Isolating and Quantifying the Role of Developmental Noise in Generating Phenotypic Variation

10.1101/334961 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Maria Kiskowski ◽

Tilmann Glimm ◽

Nickolas Moreno ◽

Tony Gamble ◽

Ylenia Chiari

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Variation ◽

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Full Range ◽

Genotypic Variation ◽

Reaction Diffusion ◽

Environmental Variation ◽

Color Pattern ◽

Eublepharis Macularius ◽

Developmental Noise

AbstractPhenotypic variation in organisms is typically attributed to genotypic variation, environmental variation, and their interaction. Developmental noise, which arises from stochasticity in cellular and molecular processes occurring during development when genotype and environment are fixed, also contributes to phenotypic variation. The potential influence of developmental noise is likely underestimated in studies of phenotypic variation due to intrinsic mechanisms within organisms that stabilize phenotypes and decrease variation. Since we are just beginning to appreciate the extent to which phenotypic variation due to stochasticity is potentially adaptive, the contribution of developmental noise to phenotypic variation must be separated and measured to fully understand its role in evolution. Here, we show that phenotypic variation due to genotype and environment, versus the contribution of developmental noise, can be distinguished for leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) head color patterns using mathematical simulations that model the role of random variation (corresponding to developmental noise) in patterning. Specifically, we modified the parameters of simulations corresponding to genetic and environmental variation to generate the full range of phenotypic variation in color pattern seen on the heads of eight leopard geckos. We observed that over the range of these parameters, the component of variation due to genotype and environment exceeds that due to developmental noise in the studied gecko cohort. However, the effect of developmental noise on patterning is also substantial. This approach can be applied to any regular morphological trait that results from self-organized processes such as reaction-diffusion mechanisms, including the frequently found striped and spotted patterns of animal pigmentation patterning, patterning of bones in vertebrate limbs, body segmentation in segmented animals. Our approach addresses one of the major goals of evolutionary biology: to define the role of stochasticity in shaping phenotypic variation.

Download Full-text