This Is Auburn

Show simple item record

Epigenetics in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation


Metadata FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributorGina Lamka, gfl0003@auburn.eduen_US
dc.creatorLamka, Gina F.
dc.creatorHarder, Avril M.
dc.creatorSundaram, Mekala
dc.creatorSchwartz, Tonia S.
dc.creatorChristie, Mark R.
dc.creatorDeWoody, J. Andrew
dc.creatorWilloughby, Janna R.
dc.date.accessioned2022-08-26T10:36:34Z
dc.date.available2022-08-26T10:36:34Z
dc.date.created2022-04-11
dc.identifier10.3389/fevo.2022.871791en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.871791/fullen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://aurora.auburn.edu/handle/11200/50327
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.35099/aurora-395
dc.description.abstractEpigenetic variation is often characterized by modifications to DNA that do not alter the underlying nucleotide sequence, but can influence behavior, morphology, and physiological phenotypes by affecting gene expression and protein synthesis. In this review, we consider how the emerging field of ecological epigenetics (eco-epi) aims to use epigenetic variation to explain ecologically relevant phenotypic variation and predict evolutionary trajectories that are important in conservation. Here, we focus on how epigenetic data have contributed to our understanding of wild populations, including plants, animals, and fungi. First, we identified published eco-epi literature and found that there was limited taxonomic and ecosystem coverage and that, by necessity of available technology, these studies have most often focused on the summarized epigenome rather than locus- or nucleotide-level epigenome characteristics. We also found that while many studies focused on adaptation and heritability of the epigenome, the field has thematically expanded into topics such as disease ecology and epigenome-based ageing of individuals. In the second part of our synthesis, we discuss key insights that have emerged from the epigenetic field broadly and use these to preview the path toward integration of epigenetics into ecology. Specifically, we suggest moving focus to nucleotide-level differences in the epigenome rather than whole-epigenome data and that we incorporate several facets of epigenome characterization (e.g., methylation, chromatin structure). Finally, we also suggest that incorporation of behavior and stress data will be critical to the process of fully integrating eco-epi data into ecology, conservation, and evolutionary biology.en_US
dc.formatPDFen_US
dc.format.extent14 pages plus supplemental materialsen_US
dc.publisherFrontiersen_US
dc.relation.ispartofFrontiers in Ecology and Evolutionen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries2296-701Xen_US
dc.rightsThis article is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 license. Item should be cited as: Lamka, G. F., Harder, A. M., Sundaram, M., Schwartz, T., Christie, M. R., Dewoody, A., & Willoughby, J. R. (2022). Epigenetics in ecology, evolution, and conservation. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10.en_US
dc.subjecteco-epien_US
dc.subjectmethylationen_US
dc.subjectepigenomeen_US
dc.subjectDNA modificationen_US
dc.subjectphenotypic variationen_US
dc.subjectadaptationen_US
dc.subjectecologyen_US
dc.subjectevolutionen_US
dc.subjectconservationen_US
dc.titleEpigenetics in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservationen_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dc.type.genreJournal Article, Academic Journalen_US
dc.citation.volume10en_US
dc.description.statusPublisheden_US
dc.description.peerreviewyesen_US
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-6785-4831en_US

Files in this item

Show simple item record