Twenty years on from Developmental Plasticity and Evolution: middle-range theories and how to test them.

In Developmental Plasticity and Evolution, Mary-Jane West-Eberhard argued that the developmental mechanisms that enable organisms to respond to their environment are fundamental causes of adaptation and diversification. Twenty years after publication of this book, this once so highly controversial claim appears to have been assimilated by a wealth of studies on 'plasticity-led' evolution. However, we suggest that the role of development in explanations for adaptive evolution remains underappreciated in this body of work. By combining concepts of evolvability from evolutionary developmental biology and quantitative genetics, we outline a framework that is more appropriate to identify developmental causes of adaptive evolution. This framework demonstrates how experimental and comparative developmental biology and physiology can be leveraged to put the role of plasticity in evolution to the test.

Population Genomics of Wall Lizards Reflects the Dynamic History of the Mediterranean Basin.

The Mediterranean Basin has experienced extensive change in geology and climate over the past six million years. Yet, the relative importance of key geological events for the distribution and genetic structure of the Mediterranean fauna remains poorly understood. Here, we use population genomic and phylogenomic analyses to establish the evolutionary history and genetic structure of common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis). This species is particularly informative because, in contrast to other Mediterranean lizards, it is widespread across the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan Peninsulas, and in extra-Mediterranean regions. We found strong support for six major lineages within P. muralis, which were largely discordant with the phylogenetic relationship of mitochondrial DNA. The most recent common ancestor of extant P. muralis was likely distributed in the Italian Peninsula, and experienced an "Out-of-Italy" expansion following the Messinian salinity crisis (∼5 Mya), resulting in the differentiation into the extant lineages on the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan Peninsulas. Introgression analysis revealed that both inter- and intraspecific gene flows have been pervasive throughout the evolutionary history of P. muralis. For example, the Southern Italy lineage has a hybrid origin, formed through admixture between the Central Italy lineage and an ancient lineage that was the sister to all other P. muralis. More recent genetic differentiation is associated with the onset of the Quaternary glaciations, which influenced population dynamics and genetic diversity of contemporary lineages. These results demonstrate the pervasive role of Mediterranean geology and climate for the evolutionary history and population genetic structure of extant species.

The relative impact of parental and current environment on plant transcriptomes depends on type of stress and genotype.

Through developmental plasticity, an individual organism integrates influences from its immediate environment with those due to the environment of its parents. While both effects on phenotypes are well documented, their relative impact has been little studied in natural systems, especially at the level of gene expression. We examined this issue in four genotypes of the annual plant Persicaria maculosa by varying two key resources-light and soil moisture-in both generations. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the relative effects of parent and offspring environment on gene expression (i.e. the number of differentially expressed transcripts, DETs) varied both for the two types of resource stress and among genotypes. For light, immediate environment induced more DETs than parental environment for all genotypes, although the precise proportion of parental versus immediate DETs varied among genotypes. By contrast, the relative effect of soil moisture varied dramatically among genotypes, from 8-fold more DETs due to parental than immediate conditions to 10-fold fewer. These findings provide evidence at the transcriptomic level that the relative impacts of parental and immediate environment on the developing organism may depend on the environmental factor and vary strongly among genotypes, providing potential for the interplay of these developmental influences to evolve.

Regulatory changes in pterin and carotenoid genes underlie balanced color polymorphisms in the wall lizard.

Reptiles use pterin and carotenoid pigments to produce yellow, orange, and red colors. These conspicuous colors serve a diversity of signaling functions, but their molecular basis remains unresolved. Here, we show that the genomes of sympatric color morphs of the European common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), which differ in orange and yellow pigmentation and in their ecology and behavior, are virtually undifferentiated. Genetic differences are restricted to two small regulatory regions near genes associated with pterin [sepiapterin reductase (SPR)] and carotenoid [beta-carotene oxygenase 2 (BCO2)] metabolism, demonstrating that a core gene in the housekeeping pathway of pterin biosynthesis has been coopted for bright coloration in reptiles and indicating that these loci exert pleiotropic effects on other aspects of physiology. Pigmentation differences are explained by extremely divergent alleles, and haplotype analysis revealed abundant transspecific allele sharing with other lacertids exhibiting color polymorphisms. The evolution of these conspicuous color ornaments is the result of ancient genetic variation and cross-species hybridization.

Evolvability and evolutionary rescue.

The survival prospects of threatened species or populations can sometimes be improved by adaptive change. Such evolutionary rescue is particularly relevant when the threat comes from changing environments, or when long-term population persistence requires range expansion into new habitats. Conservation biologists are therefore often interested in whether or not populations or lineages show a disposition for adaptive evolution, that is, if they are evolvable. Here, we discuss four alternative perspectives that target different causes of evolvability and outline some of the key challenges those perspectives are designed to address. Standing genetic variation provides one familiar estimate of evolvability. Yet, the mere presence of genetic variation is often insufficient to predict if a population will adapt, or how it will adapt. The reason is that adaptive change not only depends on genetic variation, but also on the extent to which this genetic variation can be realized as adaptive phenotypic variation. This requires attention to developmental systems and how plasticity influences evolutionary potential. Finally, we discuss how a better understanding of the different factors that contribute to evolvability can be exploited in conservation practice.

A highly conserved ontogenetic limb allometry and its evolutionary significance in the adaptive radiation of Anolis lizards.

Diversifications often proceed along highly conserved, evolutionary trajectories. These patterns of covariation arise in ontogeny, which raises the possibility that adaptive morphologies are biased towards trait covariations that resemble growth trajectories. Here, we test this prediction in the diverse clade of Anolis lizards by investigating the covariation of embryonic growth of 13 fore- and hindlimb bones in 15 species, and compare these to the evolutionary covariation of these limb bones across 267 Anolis species. Our results demonstrate that species differences in relative limb length are established already at hatching, and are resulting from both differential growth and differential sizes of cartilaginous anlagen. Multivariate analysis revealed that Antillean Anolis share a common ontogenetic allometry that is characterized by positive allometric growth of the long bones relative to metapodial and phalangeal bones. This major axis of ontogenetic allometry in limb bones deviated from the major axis of evolutionary allometry of the Antillean Anolis and the two clades of mainland Anolis lizards. These results demonstrate that the remarkable diversification of locomotor specialists in Anolis lizards are accessible through changes that are largely independent from ontogenetic growth trajectories, and therefore likely to be the result of modifications that manifest at the earliest stages of limb development.

Developmental plasticity and evolutionary explanations.

Developmental plasticity looks like a promising bridge between ecological and developmental perspectives on evolution. Yet, there is no consensus on whether plasticity is part of the explanation for adaptive evolution or an optional "add-on" to genes and natural selection. Here, we suggest that these differences in opinion are caused by differences in the simplifying assumptions, and particular idealizations, that enable evolutionary explanation. We outline why idealizations designed to explain evolution through natural selection prevent an understanding of the role of development, and vice versa. We show that representing plasticity as a reaction norm conforms with the idealizations of selective explanations, which can give the false impression that plasticity has no explanatory power for adaptive evolution. Finally, we use examples to illustrate why evolutionary explanations that include developmental plasticity may in fact be more satisfactory than explanations that solely refer to genes and natural selection.

Vertical Transmission of a Nematode from Female Lizards to the Brains of Their Offspring.

Parasites have evolved a diversity of lifestyles that exploit the biology of their hosts. Some nematodes that parasitize mammals pass via the placenta or milk from one host to another. Similar cases of vertical transmission have never been reported in avian and nonavian reptiles, suggesting that egg laying may constrain the means of parasite transmission. However, here we report the first incidence of transovarial transmission of a previously undescribed nematode in an egg-laying amniote, the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis). Nematodes enter the developing brain from the female ovary early in embryonic development. Infected lizard embryos develop normally and hatch with nematodes residing in their braincase. We present a morphological and molecular phylogenetic characterization of the nematode and suggest that particular features of lizard biology that are absent from birds and turtles facilitated the evolutionary origin of this novel life history.

Lizards possess the most complete tetrapod Hox gene repertoire despite pervasive structural changes in Hox clusters.

Hox genes are a remarkable example of conservation in animal development and their nested expression along the head-to-tail axis orchestrates embryonic patterning. Early in vertebrate history, two duplications led to the emergence of four Hox clusters (A-D) and redundancy within paralog groups has been partially accommodated with gene losses. Here we conduct an inventory of squamate Hox genes using the genomes of 10 lizard and 7 snake species. Although the HoxC1 gene has been hypothesized to be lost in the amniote ancestor, we reveal that it is retained in lizards. In contrast, all snakes lack functional HoxC1 and -D12 genes. Varying levels of degradation suggest differences in the process of gene loss between the two genes. The vertebrate HoxC1 gene is prone to gene loss and its functional domains are more variable than those of other Hox1 genes. We describe for the first time the HoxC1 expression patterns in tetrapods. HoxC1 is broadly expressed during development in the diencephalon, the neural tube, dorsal root ganglia, and limb buds in two lizard species. Our study emphasizes the value of revisiting Hox gene repertoires by densely sampling taxonomic groups and its feasibility owing to growing sequence resources in evaluating gene repertoires across taxa.

The African coelacanth genome provides insights into tetrapod evolution.

The discovery of a living coelacanth specimen in 1938 was remarkable, as this lineage of lobe-finned fish was thought to have become extinct 70 million years ago. The modern coelacanth looks remarkably similar to many of its ancient relatives, and its evolutionary proximity to our own fish ancestors provides a glimpse of the fish that first walked on land. Here we report the genome sequence of the African coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae. Through a phylogenomic analysis, we conclude that the lungfish, and not the coelacanth, is the closest living relative of tetrapods. Coelacanth protein-coding genes are significantly more slowly evolving than those of tetrapods, unlike other genomic features. Analyses of changes in genes and regulatory elements during the vertebrate adaptation to land highlight genes involved in immunity, nitrogen excretion and the development of fins, tail, ear, eye, brain and olfaction. Functional assays of enhancers involved in the fin-to-limb transition and in the emergence of extra-embryonic tissues show the importance of the coelacanth genome as a blueprint for understanding tetrapod evolution.

Accumulation of transposable elements in Hox gene clusters during adaptive radiation of Anolis lizards.

Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences that can insert elsewhere in the genome and modify genome structure and gene regulation. The role of TEs in evolution is contentious. One hypothesis posits that TE activity generates genomic incompatibilities that can cause reproductive isolation between incipient species. This predicts that TEs will accumulate during speciation events. Here, I tested the prediction that extant lineages with a relatively high rate of speciation have a high number of TEs in their genomes. I sequenced and analysed the TE content of a marker genomic region (Hox clusters) in Anolis lizards, a classic case of an adaptive radiation. Unlike other vertebrates, including closely related lizards, Anolis lizards have high numbers of TEs in their Hox clusters, genomic regions that regulate development of the morphological adaptations that characterize habitat specialists in these lizards. Following a burst of TE activity in the lineage leading to extant Anolis, TEs have continued to accumulate during or after speciation events, resulting in a positive relationship between TE density and lineage speciation rate. These results are consistent with the prediction that TE activity contributes to adaptive radiation by promoting speciation. Although there was no evidence that TE density per se is associated with ecological morphology, the activity of TEs in Hox clusters could have been a rich source for phenotypic variation that may have facilitated the rapid parallel morphological adaptation to microhabitats seen in extant Anolis lizards.

Incorporating tree-thinking and evolutionary time scale into developmental biology.

Phylogenetic approaches are indispensable in any comparative molecular study involving multiple species. These approaches are in increasing demand as the amount and availability of DNA sequence information continues to increase exponentially, even for organisms that were previously not extensively studied. Without the sound application of phylogenetic concepts and knowledge, one can be misled when attempting to infer ancestral character states as well as the timing and order of evolutionary events, both of which are frequently exerted in evolutionary developmental biology. The ignorance of phylogenetic approaches can also impact non-evolutionary studies and cause misidentification of the target gene or protein to be examined in functional characterization. This review aims to promote tree-thinking in evolutionary conjecture and stress the importance of a sense of time scale in cross-species comparisons, in order to enhance the understanding of phylogenetics in all biological fields including developmental biology. To this end, molecular phylogenies of several developmental regulatory genes, including those denoted as "cryptic pan-vertebrate genes", are introduced as examples.

Adaptive introgression reveals the genetic basis of a sexually selected syndrome in wall lizards.

The joint expression of particular colors, morphologies, and behaviors is a common feature of adaptation, but the genetic basis for such "phenotypic syndromes" remains poorly understood. Here, we identified a complex genetic architecture associated with a sexually selected syndrome in common wall lizards, by capitalizing on the adaptive introgression of coloration and morphology into a distantly related lineage. Consistent with the hypothesis that the evolution of phenotypic syndromes in vertebrates is facilitated by developmental linkage through neural crest cells, most of the genes associated with the syndrome are involved in neural crest cell regulation. A major locus was a ~400-kb region, characterized by standing structural genetic variation and previously implied in the evolutionary innovation of coloration and beak size in birds. We conclude that features of the developmental and genetic architecture contribute to maintaining trait integration, facilitating the extensive and rapid introgressive spread of suites of sexually selected characters.

Maternal behavioral thermoregulation facilitated evolutionary transitions from egg laying to live birth.

Live birth is a key innovation that has evolved from egg-laying ancestors over 100 times in reptiles. However, egg-laying lizards and snakes can have preferred body temperatures that are lethal to developing embryos, which should select against prolonged egg retention. Here, we demonstrate that thermal mismatches between mothers and offspring are widespread across the squamate phylogeny. This mismatch is resolved by gravid females adjusting their body temperature towards the thermal optimum of their embryos. We find that the same response occurs in both live-bearing and egg-laying species, despite the latter only retaining embryos during the early stages of development. Importantly, phylogenetic reconstructions suggest this thermoregulatory behavior in gravid females evolved in egg-laying species prior to the evolution of live birth. Maternal thermoregulatory behavior, therefore, bypasses the constraints imposed by a slowly evolving thermal physiology and has likely been a key facilitator in the repeated transition to live birth.

Chromosome-level genome assembly of Lilford's wall lizard, Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874) from the Balearic Islands (Spain).

The Mediterranean lizard Podarcis lilfordi is an emblematic species of the Balearic Islands. The extensive phenotypic diversity among extant isolated populations makes the species a great insular model system for eco-evolutionary studies, as well as a challenging target for conservation management plans. Here we report the first high-quality chromosome-level assembly and annotation of the P. lilfordi genome, along with its mitogenome, based on a mixed sequencing strategy (10X Genomics linked reads, Oxford Nanopore Technologies long reads and Hi-C scaffolding) coupled with extensive transcriptomic data (Illumina and PacBio). The genome assembly (1.5 Gb) is highly contiguous (N50 = 90 Mb) and complete, with 99% of the sequence assigned to candidate chromosomal sequences and >97% gene completeness. We annotated a total of 25,663 protein-coding genes translating into 38,615 proteins. Comparison to the genome of the related species Podarcis muralis revealed substantial similarity in genome size, annotation metrics, repeat content, and a strong collinearity, despite their evolutionary distance (~18-20 MYA). This genome expands the repertoire of available reptilian genomes and will facilitate the exploration of the molecular and evolutionary processes underlying the extraordinary phenotypic diversity of this insular species, while providing a critical resource for conservation genomics.

A single locus regulates a female-limited color pattern polymorphism in a reptile.

Animal coloration is often expressed in periodic patterns that can arise from differential cell migration, yet how these processes are regulated remains elusive. We show that a female-limited polymorphism in dorsal patterning (diamond/chevron) in the brown anole is controlled by a single Mendelian locus. This locus contains the gene CCDC170 that is adjacent to, and coexpressed with, the Estrogen receptor-1 gene, explaining why the polymorphism is female limited. CCDC170 is an organizer of the Golgi-microtubule network underlying a cell's ability to migrate, and the two segregating alleles encode structurally different proteins. Our agent-based modeling of skin development demonstrates that, in principle, a change in cell migratory behaviors is sufficient to switch between the two morphs. These results suggest that CCDC170 might have been co-opted as a switch between color patterning morphs, likely by modulating cell migratory behaviors.

Environmentally induced DNA methylation is inherited across generations in an aquatic keystone species.

Transgenerational inheritance of environmentally induced epigenetic marks can have significant impacts on eco-evolutionary dynamics, but the phenomenon remains controversial in ecological model systems. We used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of individual water fleas (Daphnia magna) to assess whether environmentally induced DNA methylation is transgenerationally inherited. Genetically identical females were exposed to one of three natural stressors, or a de-methylating drug, and their offspring were propagated clonally for four generations under control conditions. We identified between 70 and 225 differentially methylated CpG positions (DMPs) in F1 individuals whose mothers were exposed to a natural stressor. Roughly half of these environmentally induced DMPs persisted until generation F4. In contrast, treatment with the drug demonstrated that pervasive hypomethylation upon exposure is reset almost completely after one generation. These results suggest that environmentally induced DNA methylation is non-random and stably inherited across generations in Daphnia, making epigenetic inheritance a putative factor in the eco-evolutionary dynamics of freshwater communities.

Unravelling the origin of the common wall lizards (Podarcismuralis) in south-eastern Europe using mitochondrial evidence.

The origin of the common wall lizards (Podarcismuralis) populations in south-eastern Europe (namely in Bulgaria and Romania), representing the north-eastern range border of this species, was addressed using mitochondrial DNA. We compared cytochrome b sequences from Bulgaria and Romania with those from the contiguous range in Central Europe that are available from previous studies. We recorded five main haplogroups in Bulgaria and Romania, belonging to the Central Balkan clade. However, haplogroup III was recorded in more localities than previously found. Additionally, signs of haplotype admixture were identified in several populations along the Danube River. The presence of the Southern Alps haplotype in one population from Otopeni, Bucharest (Romania) and its close phylogenetic relationships to north Italy populations suggests human-mediated introductions of this wall lizard clade in Romania. Our results confirm that P.muralis can have non-native lineages and admixture through active human-mediated transport.

Chromosome-scale genome assembly of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei), an emerging model species.

Rapid technological improvements are democratizing access to high quality, chromosome-scale genome assemblies. No longer the domain of only the most highly studied model organisms, now non-traditional and emerging model species can be genome-enabled using a combination of sequencing technologies and assembly software. Consequently, old ideas built on sparse sampling across the tree of life have recently been amended in the face of genomic data drawn from a growing number of high-quality reference genomes. Arguably the most valuable are those long-studied species for which much is already known about their biology; what many term emerging model species. Here, we report a highly complete chromosome-scale genome assembly for the brown anole, Anolis sagrei - a lizard species widely studied across a variety of disciplines and for which a high-quality reference genome was long overdue. This assembly exceeds the vast majority of existing reptile and snake genomes in contiguity (N50 = 253.6 Mb) and annotation completeness. Through the analysis of this genome and population resequence data, we examine the history of repetitive element accumulation, identify the X chromosome, and propose a hypothesis for the evolutionary history of fusions between autosomes and the X that led to the sex chromosomes of A. sagrei.

Co-orthology of Pax4 and Pax6 to the fly eyeless gene: molecular phylogenetic, comparative genomic, and embryological analyses.

The functional equivalence of Pax6/eyeless genes across distantly related animal phyla has been one of central findings on which evo-devo studies is based. In this study, we show that Pax4, in addition to Pax6, is a vertebrate ortholog of the fly eyeless gene (and its duplicate, twin of eyeless [toy] gene, unique to Insecta). Molecular phylogenetic trees published to date placed the Pax4 gene outside the Pax6/eyeless subgroup as if the Pax4 gene originated from a gene duplication before the origin of bilaterians. However, Pax4 genes had only been reported for mammals. Our molecular phylogenetic analysis, including previously unidentified teleost fish pax4 genes, equally supported two scenarios: one with the Pax4-Pax6 duplication early in vertebrate evolution and the other with this duplication before the bilaterian radiation. We then investigated gene compositions in the genomic regions containing Pax4 and Pax6, and identified (1) conserved synteny between these two regions, suggesting that the Pax4-Pax6 split was caused by a large-scale duplication and (2) its timing within early vertebrate evolution based on the duplication timing of the members of neighboring gene families. Our results are consistent with the so-called two-round genome duplications in early vertebrates. Overall, the Pax6/eyeless ortholog is merely part of a 2:2 orthology relationship between vertebrates (with Pax4 and Pax6) and the fly (with eyeless and toy). In this context, evolution of transcriptional regulation associated with the Pax4-Pax6 split is also discussed in light of the zebrafish pax4 expression pattern that is analyzed here for the first time.