Turbellarian taxonomic database

Record # 23250
Author
Title
Journal
Ramm SA, Lengerer B, Arbore R, Pjeta R, Wunderer J, Giannakara A, Berezikov E, Ladurner P, Schärer L (2019)
Sex allocation plasticity on a transcriptome scale: Socially sensitive gene expression in a simultaneous hermaphrodite
Molecular Ecology, Vol 28(9): 2321-2341
[doi: 10.1111/mec.15077
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Abstract / Notes

"Phenotypic plasticity can enable organisms to produce optimal phenotypes in multiple environments. A crucial
life history trait that is often highly plastic is sex allocation, which in simultaneous hermaphrodites
describes the relative investment into the male versus female sex functions. Theory predicts-and morphological
evidence supports-that greater investment into the male function is favoured with increasing group size, due
to the increasing importance of sperm competition for male reproductive success. Here, we performed a
genome-wide gene expression assay to test for such sex allocation plasticity in a model simultaneous
hermaphrodite, the free-living flatworm Macrostomum lignano. Based on RNA-Seq data from 16 biological
replicates spanning four different group size treatments, we demonstrate that at least 10% of the >75,000
investigated transcripts in M. lignano are differentially expressed according to the social environment,
rising to >30% of putative gonad-specific transcripts (spermatogenesis and oogenesis candidates) and
tail-specific transcripts (seminal fluid candidates). This transcriptional response closely corresponds to the
expected shift away from female and towards male reproductive investment with increasing sperm competition
level. Using whole-mount in situ hybridization, we then confirm that many plastic transcripts exhibit the
expected organ-specific expression, and RNA interference of selected testis- and ovary-specific candidates
establishes that these indeed function in gametogenesis pathways. We conclude that a large proportion of
sex-specific transcripts in M. lignano are differentially expressed according to the prevailing ecological
conditions and that these are functionally relevant to key reproductive phenotypes. Our study thus begins to
bridge organismal and molecular perspectives on sex allocation plasticity."

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