scholarly journals Small Changes in Gene Expression of Targeted Osmoregulatory Genes When Exposing Marine and Freshwater Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to Abrupt Salinity Transfers

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. e106894 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Taugbøl ◽  
Tina Arntsen ◽  
Kjartan Østbye ◽  
Leif Asbjørn Vøllestad
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback

scholarly journals Early Life Disruption of the Microbiota Affects Organ Development and Cytokine Gene Expression in Threespine Stickleback

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas J Kirschman ◽  
Anastasia Khadjinova ◽  
Kelly Ireland ◽  
Kathryn C Milligan-Myhre
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Genetic Background ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Microbial Colonization ◽  
Cytokine Gene Expression ◽  
Immune Gene ◽  
Cytokine Gene

Synopsis The microbiota that inhabits vertebrates exerts strong effects on host physiology and can be crucial to the development of a normal phenotype. This includes development of the immune system, somatic growth and maintenance, and morphogenesis. However, the genetic background of the host can also affect these life history traits. To this end, we investigated the effects of the microbiota on growth, development, and immune gene expression on two populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), one anadromous and one freshwater. We tested the hypotheses that microbial colonization and the genetic background of the host would affect survival, cytokine gene expression, growth, and development. We raised in vitro crosses of stickleback larvae with and without conventional microbiota. We then exposed all these treatments to Vibrio anguillarum, a potential fish pathogen, in a full factorial design. We found stickleback raised without conventional microbiota had smaller swim bladders relative to those raised with conventional microbiota. Stickleback raised with conventional microbiota exhibited small increases in cytokine gene expression. We found no differences in growth or survival regardless of treatment. These results are consistent with other investigations that show microbiota disruption, in early life, can alter host organ and tissue development and immune responses

scholarly journals Regulatory Architecture of Gene Expression Variation in the Threespine Stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria L. Pritchard ◽  
Heidi M. Viitaniemi ◽  
R. J. Scott McCairns ◽  
Juha Merilä ◽  
Mikko Nikinmaa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Gene Expression Variation ◽  
Expression Variation ◽  
Regulatory Architecture

scholarly journals Regulatory architecture of gene expression variation in the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria L. Pritchard ◽  
Heidi M. Viitaniemi ◽  
R.J. Scott McCairns ◽  
Juha Merilä ◽  
Mikko Nikinmaa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Genotyping By Sequencing ◽  
Interval Mapping ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Adaptive Divergence ◽  
Gene Expression Variation ◽  
Expression Variation ◽  
Regulatory Architecture

Much adaptive evolutionary change is underlain by mutational variation in regions of the genome that regulate gene expression rather than in the coding regions of the genes themselves. An understanding of the role of gene expression variation in facilitating local adaptation will be aided by an understanding of underlying regulatory networks. Here, we characterize the genetic architecture of gene expression variation in the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), an important model in the study of adaptive evolution. We collected transcriptomic and genomic data from 60 half-sib families using an expression microarray and genotyping-by-sequencing, and located QTL underlying the variation in gene expression (eQTL) in liver tissue using an interval mapping approach. We identified eQTL for several thousand expression traits. Expression was influenced by polymorphism in both cis and trans regulatory regions. Trans eQTL clustered into hotspots. We did not identify master transcriptional regulators in hotspot locations: rather, the presence of hotspots may be driven by complex interactions between multiple transcription factors. One observed hotspot co-located with a QTL recently found to underlie salinity tolerance in the threespine stickleback. However, most other observed hotspots did not co-locate with regions of the genome known to be involved in adaptive divergence between marine and freshwater habitats.

scholarly journals Diversity and sexual dimorphism in the head lateral line system in North Sea populations of threespine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus (Teleostei: Gasterosteidae)

Zoomorphology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Ahnelt ◽  
David Ramler ◽  
Maria Ø. Madsen ◽  
Lasse F. Jensen ◽  
Sonja Windhager
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Lateral Line ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Lateral Line System ◽  
Line System ◽  
Marine Population ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks

AbstractThe mechanosensory lateral line of fishes is a flow sensing system and supports a number of behaviors, e.g. prey detection, schooling or position holding in water currents. Differences in the neuromast pattern of this sensory system reflect adaptation to divergent ecological constraints. The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is known for its ecological plasticity resulting in three major ecotypes, a marine type, a migrating anadromous type and a resident freshwater type. We provide the first comparative study of the pattern of the head lateral line system of North Sea populations representing these three ecotypes including a brackish spawning population. We found no distinct difference in the pattern of the head lateral line system between the three ecotypes but significant differences in neuromast numbers. The anadromous and the brackish populations had distinctly less neuromasts than their freshwater and marine conspecifics. This difference in neuromast number between marine and anadromous threespine stickleback points to differences in swimming behavior. We also found sexual dimorphism in neuromast number with males having more neuromasts than females in the anadromous, brackish and the freshwater populations. But no such dimorphism occurred in the marine population. Our results suggest that the head lateral line of the three ecotypes is under divergent hydrodynamic constraints. Additionally, sexual dimorphism points to divergent niche partitioning of males and females in the anadromous and freshwater but not in the marine populations. Our findings imply careful sampling as an important prerequisite to discern especially between anadromous and marine threespine sticklebacks.

Responses of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus, L) transcriptome to hypoxia

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Leveelahti ◽  
P. Leskinen ◽  
E.H. Leder ◽  
W. Waser ◽  
M. Nikinmaa
Keyword(s):  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback

scholarly journals Heritability of DNA methylation in threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

Genetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 217 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juntao Hu ◽  
Sara J S Wuitchik ◽  
Tegan N Barry ◽  
Heather A Jamniczky ◽  
Sean M Rogers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Additive Genetic Variance ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Phenotypic Change ◽  
Cpg Sites ◽  
Cis And Trans ◽  
Methylation Variation

Abstract Epigenetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic change are hypothesized to contribute to population persistence and adaptation in the face of environmental change. To date, few studies have explored the heritability of intergenerationally stable methylation levels in natural populations, and little is known about the relative contribution of cis- and trans-regulatory changes to methylation variation. Here, we explore the heritability of DNA methylation, and conduct methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) analysis to investigate the genetic architecture underlying methylation variation between marine and freshwater ecotypes of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We quantitatively measured genome-wide DNA methylation in fin tissue using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing of F1 and F2 crosses, and their marine and freshwater source populations. We identified cytosines (CpG sites) that exhibited stable methylation levels across generations. We found that additive genetic variance explained an average of 24–35% of the methylation variance, with a number of CpG sites possibly autonomous from genetic control. We also detected both cis- and trans-meQTLs, with only trans-meQTLs overlapping with previously identified genomic regions of high differentiation between marine and freshwater ecotypes. Finally, we identified the genetic architecture underlying two key CpG sites that were differentially methylated between ecotypes. These findings demonstrate a potential role for DNA methylation in facilitating adaptation to divergent environments and improve our understanding of the heritable basis of population epigenomic variation.

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