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Abstract:
Phenotypic plasticity is present in a broad range of organisms and has been shown to play a key role in evolution. The plastic response is constantly under the direct influence of environmental stimuli, including population mixture and diets. The model nematode Pristionchus pacificus stands out as a promising organism to study this phenomenon at the mechanistic level owing to its mouth-form dimorphism and known host carriers and associated microbes. Upon sampling the nematodes at the same locality from the same beetle host ten years apart, there was a stark shift in the feeding structure ratio between previously and newly isolated strains, despite their well-supported genetic relatedness. Additionally, populations having highly predatory mouth morph on the standard food, Escherichia coli OP50, showed distinct mouth-form responses to one of their naturally associated diets, Erwinia tasmaniensis NA6. Some strains still stayed highly predatory despite the diet switch while others opted for a more bacterivorous morph instead. Currently, we are generating two recombinant inbred line (RIL) panels coupling with quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis to pinpoint the potential genetic players underlying these two phenotypic plasticity patterns. Candidate loci will be subject to CRISPR/Cas9 editing for functionality studies. These works will potentially provide more evidence towards how plastic response is affected by diets and changes over time, shedding light on its role in microevolution.
