Abstract
Environmental conditions can alter the form, function, and behavior of organisms over short and long timescales, and even over generations. Aphid females respond to specific environmental cues by transmitting signals that have the effect of altering the development of their offspring. These epigenetic phenomena have positioned aphids as a model for the study of phenotypic plasticity. The molecular basis for this epigenetic inheritance in aphids and how this type of inheritance system could have evolved are still unanswered questions. With the availability of the pea aphid genome sequence, new genomics technologies, and ongoing genomics projects in aphids, these questions can now be addressed. Here, we review epigenetic phenomena in aphids and recent progress toward elucidating the molecular basis of epigenetics in aphids. The discovery of a functional DNA methylation system, functional small RNA system, and expanded set of chromatin modifying genes provides a platform for analyzing these pathways in the context of aphid plasticity. With these tools and further research, aphids are an emerging model system for studying the molecular epigenetics of polyphenisms.
Highlights
While the genome has been portrayed as a “blueprint” instructing the development of an adult organism, the articulation of genotype into phenotype is a more complex phenomenon
Models for seemingly disparate phenomena have converged on common mechanisms for establishing heritable gene expression patterns: changes in chromatin architecture due to the effects of DNA methylation, small RNAs, and chromatin modifying enzymes [10, 11]
The life cycle of a model aphid species, the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, begins as a “foundress”—a female aphid that hatches in the spring from an overwintering egg
Summary
While the genome has been portrayed as a “blueprint” instructing the development of an adult organism, the articulation of genotype into phenotype is a more complex phenomenon. Like the changes in gene expression that intrinsically occur in development, environment can affect gene expression and alter developmental trajectories [2]. If these developmental responses to the environment, and plasticity itself, can increase fitness and are heritable, morphology, physiology, behavior, or life history strategies can evolve elements of adaptive phenotypic plasticity [1, 3]. This can result in the production of continuous or discrete phenotypic variation (polyphenism). Models for seemingly disparate phenomena have converged on common mechanisms for establishing heritable gene expression patterns: changes in chromatin architecture due to the effects of DNA methylation, small RNAs, and chromatin modifying enzymes [10, 11]
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