PHENOTYPIC AND GENOTYPIC CONVERGENCES ARE INFLUENCED BY HISTORICAL CONTINGENCY AND ENVIRONMENT IN YEAST

• Published in: Evolution Vol. 68; no. 3; pp. 772 - 790
• Main Authors: Spor, Aymé, Kvitek, Daniel J., Nidelet, Thibault, Martin, Juliette, Legrand, Judith, Dillmann, Christine, Bourgais, Aurélie, de Vienne, Dominique, Sherlock, Gavin, Sicard, Delphine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2014; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; Oxford University Press; Wiley
• Subjects: 14-3-3 protein; 14-3-3 Proteins - genetics; Adaptive landscape; Animal populations; Convergence; Convergent evolution; Ecological life histories; Environment; Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Evolutionary genetics; experimental evolution; Gene-Environment Interaction; Genetic mutation; Genotype; Genotype & phenotype; Life Sciences; life-history evolution; Mutation; Nonsense; Organisms; Phenotypes; Phenotypic traits; pleiotropy; Population characteristics; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - genetics; Selection, Genetic; Vegetal Biology; Yeast; Yeasts; 14-3-3 protein; experimental evolution; pleiotropy; Adaptive landscape; life-history evolution
• ISSN: 0014-3820; 1558-5646
• DOI: 10.1111/evo.12302

Different organisms have independently and recurrently evolved similar phenotypic traits at different points throughout history. This phenotypic convergence may be caused by genotypic convergence and in addition, constrained by historical contingency. To investigate how convergence may be driven by selection in a particular environment and constrained by history, we analyzed nine life-history traits and four metabolic traits during an experimental evolution of six yeast strains in four different environments. In each of the environments, the population converged toward a different multivariate phenotype. However, the evolution of most traits, including fitness components, was constrained by history. Phenotypic convergence was partly associated with the selection of mutations in genes involved in the same pathway. By further investigating the convergence in one gene, BMH1, mutated in 20% of the evolved populations, we show that both the history and the environment influenced the types of mutations (missense/nonsense), their location within the gene itself, as well as their effects on multiple traits. However, these effects could not be easily predicted from ancestors' phylogeny or past selection. Combined, our data highlight the role of pleiotropy and epistasis in shaping a rugged fitness landscape.