The Effect of Spontaneous Mutations on Behavioral Phenotypes in Daphnia Magna
Additional Funding Sources
This project is supported by a 2017-2018 STEM Undergraduate Research Grant from the Higher Education Research Council, an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Grant No. P20GM103408, and by the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, and National Science Foundation Award No. MCB-1150213 to Sarah Shaack.
Abstract
The context-dependence of spontaneous deleterious mutations is important for predicting evolutionary patterns within populations. We investigated the impact of genetic background and trait-type on spontaneous mutational susceptibility using phenotypic assays from mutant and control lines of Daphnia magna. Mutational bias estimates were calculated based on morphological, life-history, and behavioral traits. Results varied between the populations and among the genotypes, which suggests that there is a relationship between mutational susceptibility and genomic background. The mutability of trait types also varied, with greater mutational bias seen in behavioral traits than in non-behavioral traits. Results may reflect the unique evolutionary histories of these Daphnia magna populations. Anti-protein aggregation compounds may be able to rescue the mutant line phenotypes like those measured in this assay.
The Effect of Spontaneous Mutations on Behavioral Phenotypes in Daphnia Magna
The context-dependence of spontaneous deleterious mutations is important for predicting evolutionary patterns within populations. We investigated the impact of genetic background and trait-type on spontaneous mutational susceptibility using phenotypic assays from mutant and control lines of Daphnia magna. Mutational bias estimates were calculated based on morphological, life-history, and behavioral traits. Results varied between the populations and among the genotypes, which suggests that there is a relationship between mutational susceptibility and genomic background. The mutability of trait types also varied, with greater mutational bias seen in behavioral traits than in non-behavioral traits. Results may reflect the unique evolutionary histories of these Daphnia magna populations. Anti-protein aggregation compounds may be able to rescue the mutant line phenotypes like those measured in this assay.
Comments
W32