Developmental plasticity is the ability of an organism to alter physical and/or behavioral traits in response to environmental conditions. The capacity for plasticity is a fundamental ability that most organisms use, as it allows for individuals to respond to environmental variation. While decades of experimental work have led to a well-developed understanding of many the mechanisms underlying plasticity during embryonic development and in the adult, the underlying genetic mechanisms are less well understood. Even more poorly understood is how these plastic response processes adapt genetically over multiple generations. This project will begin to fill this gap in our knowledge by leveraging the advantages of the buckeye butterfly experimental system: natural, heritable geographic variation in plasticity coupled with a laboratory manipulation. The goals of this project are to define how gene expression changes for traits that are fixed (not plastic) versus seasonally plastic traits, and to identify genes responsible for natural variation of plasticity in different populations. This study would represent one of the first efforts to combine all these mechanisms to produce an integrated portrait of seasonal plasticity. This funding will also contribute to the training of undergraduate and graduate students and help develop resources in insect genomics.

The aim of this project is to study the genetic basis of reaction norm variation in the buckeye butterfly Junonia coenia. Geographic variation in seasonal wing color plasticity, coupled with the ability to manipulate reaction norms via artificial selection, makes this butterfly a useful model to study the genetic basis of environmental response. Reed will integrate across physiological, developmental, and genetic mapping approaches to address long-standing questions regarding the genetic basis of plasticity including: (1) What is the physiological and transcriptional basis of regional variation in plasticity? (2) What is the genetic basis of natural variation in plasticity? (3) What plasticity-associated genomic regions have been under selection in different locally adapted populations?

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS)
Application #
1557443
Program Officer
Theodore Morgan
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2016-03-01
Budget End
2021-02-28
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
$732,416
Indirect Cost
Name
Cornell University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Ithaca
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
14850