AI Article Synopsis

  • Range expansions expose organisms to new challenges like predators, competitors, and limited resources, which can lead to genetic bottlenecks affecting diversity and selection.
  • Despite these difficulties, expanding populations often succeed at the edges due to phenotypic plasticity, potentially driven by epigenetic mechanisms that enable quicker adaptations to new environments.
  • The review highlights the role of epigenetic changes, particularly in the HPA axis and glucocorticoid regulation, as factors influencing organism performance and fitness in novel environments during range expansion.

Article Abstract

During range expansions, organisms are often exposed to multiple pressures, including novel enemies (i.e., predators, competitors and/or parasites) and unfamiliar or limited resources. Additionally, small propagule sizes at range edges can result in genetic founder effects and bottlenecks, which can affect phenotypic diversity and thus selection. Despite these obstacles, individuals in expanding populations often thrive at the periphery of a range, and this success may be mediated by phenotypic plasticity. Increasing evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms may underlie such plasticity because they allow for more rapid phenotypic responses to novel environments than are possible via the accumulation of genetic variation. Here, we review how molecular epigenetic mechanisms could facilitate plasticity in range-expanding organisms, emphasizing the roles of DNA methylation and other epigenetic marks in the physiological regulatory networks that drive whole-organism performance. We focus on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, arguing that epigenetically-mediated plasticity in the regulation of glucocorticoids in particular might strongly impact range expansions. We hypothesize that novel environments release and/or select for epigenetic potential in HPA variation and hence organismal performance and ultimately fitness.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icx082DOI Listing

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