Exploring visual plasticity: dietary carotenoids can change color vision in guppies (Poecilia reticulata).

Differences in color vision can play a key role in an organism's ability to perceive and interact with the environment across a broad range of taxa. Recently, species have been shown to vary in color vision across populations as a result of differences in regulatory sequence and/or plasticity of opsin gene expression. For decades, biologists have been intrigued by among-population variation in color-based mate preferences of female Trinidadian guppies. We proposed that some of this variation results from variation in color vision caused by plasticity in opsin expression. Specifically, we asked about the role of dietary carotenoid availability, because carotenoids (1) are the precursors for vitamin A, which is essential for the creation of photopigments and (2) have been linked to variation in female mate choice. We raised guppies on different carotenoid-level diets and measured opsin expression. Guppies raised on high-carotenoid diets expressed higher levels of long wavelength sensitive opsin (LWS) opsins than those raised on lower levels of carotenoids. These results suggest that dietary effects on opsin expression represent a previously unaccounted for mechanism by which ecological differences across populations could lead to mate choice differences.

The concerted impact of domestication and transposon insertions on methylation patterns between dogs and grey wolves.

The process of domestication can exert intense trait-targeted selection on genes and regulatory regions. Specifically, rapid shifts in the structure and sequence of genomic regulatory elements could provide an explanation for the extensive, and sometimes extreme, variation in phenotypic traits observed in domesticated species. Here, we explored methylation differences from >24 000 cytosines distributed across the genomes of the domesticated dog (Canis familiaris) and the grey wolf (Canis lupus). PCA and model-based cluster analyses identified two primary groups, domestic vs. wild canids. A scan for significantly differentially methylated sites (DMSs) revealed species-specific patterns at 68 sites after correcting for cell heterogeneity, with weak yet significant hypermethylation typical of purebred dogs when compared to wolves (59% and 58%, P < 0.05, respectively). Additionally, methylation patterns at eight genes significantly deviated from neutrality, with similar trends of hypermethylation in purebred dogs. The majority (>66%) of differentially methylated regions contained or were associated with repetitive elements, indicative of a genotype-mediated trend. However, DMSs were also often linked to functionally relevant genes (e.g. neurotransmitters). Finally, we utilized known genealogical relationships among Yellowstone wolves to survey transmission stability of methylation marks, from which we found a substantial fraction that demonstrated high heritability (both H(2) and h(2 ) > 0.99). These analyses provide a unique epigenetic insight into the molecular consequences of recent selection and radiation of our most ancient domesticated companion, the dog. These findings suggest selection has acted on methylation patterns, providing a new genomic perspective on phenotypic diversification in domesticated species.