We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Polyphenism – A Window Into Gene-Environment Interactions and Phenotypic Plasticity.
- Authors
Yang, Chih-Hsiang; Andrew Pospisilik, John
- Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity describes the capacity of a single genotype to exhibit a variety of phenotypes as well as the mechanisms that translate environmental variation into reproducible phenotypic modifications. Polyphenism describes the unique sub-type of phenotypic plasticity where the outputs are not continuous, but rather discrete and multi-stable, resulting in several distinct phenotypes on the same genetic background. Epigenetic regulation underpins the stable phenotypic divergences that exemplify polyphenism and their evolutionary origin. Here, we briefly summarize the apparent ubiquity and diversity of polyphenisms across the animal kingdom. We briefly review the best characterized models across taxa and highlight the consistent themes both in their epidemiology and what little we know about molecular mechanisms. Finally, we highlight work that supports the possibility that humans may have a subtle polyphenism at the level of metabolism.
- Subjects
GENOTYPE-environment interaction; PHENOTYPIC plasticity; PHENOTYPES; EPIGENOMICS; ANIMAL epigenetics; OBESITY genetics; METABOLISM
- Publication
Frontiers in Genetics, 2019, pN.PAG
- ISSN
1664-8021
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3389/fgene.2019.00132