Phenotypic plasticity Flashcards
What is Phenotypic Plasticity?
- The ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to environmental conditions.
- Essential for plant adaptation since plants are sessile and cannot move to avoid stress.
- Influences traits like leaf morphology, flowering time, and root architecture.
- Important for agriculture and evolutionary biology.
What are the key research questions in phenotypic plasticity studies?
1) What is the genetic and molecular basis of plasticity variation?
2) How do plasticity genes function, and are they conserved across species?
3) What constraints limit the evolution of plasticity?
4) What is the adaptive value of plasticity, and how does selection act on it?
What are Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs), and why are they better than F2 populations for plasticity studies?
RILs are created by repeated selfing or sibling mating of F2 individuals over multiple generations, leading to highly homozygous and stable genetic lines.
- Allow repeated measurements, (in F2 populations only one individual per genotype) reducing random error.
- Enable the study of genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions.
- Require genotyping only once, making them cost-effective for large-scale studies.
How can genetic mapping be used to study plasticity?
- QTL Mapping (Quantitative Trait Loci) identifies genomic regions linked to plastic traits.
- RILs Recombinant inbred lines are preffered becuase they allow repeated measuremnts and enable genotype-by- environent (GxE) interaction analysis.
How can plasticity evolution be studied experimentally?
- Common-garden experiments to compare genetic variation in plastic responses.
- Experimental selection on reaction norms to observe evolutionary changes.
- Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and QTL mapping to identify plasticity-associated genes.
What is a quantitative complementation assay, and why is it important?
- A method to test whether a candidate gene identified from QTL or GWAS studies truly controls a plasticity trait.
- Involves crossing mutants lacking the gene with different backgrounds and observing phenotypic rescue.
- Helps establish causality between genetic variation and plasticity.
