Phenotypic plasticity through disposable genetic adaptation in ciliates - CNRS - Centre national de la recherche scientifique Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Trends in Microbiology Année : 2021

Phenotypic plasticity through disposable genetic adaptation in ciliates

Résumé

Ciliates have an extraordinary genetic system in which each cell harbors two distinct kinds of nucleus, a transcriptionally active somatic nucleus and a quiescent germline nucleus. The latter undergoes classical, heritable genetic adaptation, while adaptation of the somatic nucleus is only short-term and thus disposable. The ecological and evolutionary relevance of this nuclear dimorphism have never been well formalized, which is surprising given the long history of using ciliates such as Tetrahymena and Paramecium as model organisms. We present a novel, alternative explanation for ciliate nuclear dimorphism which, we argue, should be considered an instrument of phenotypic plasticity by somatic selection on the level of the ciliate clone, as if it were a diffuse multicellular organism. This viewpoint helps to put some enigmatic aspects of ciliate biology into perspective and presents the diversity of ciliates as a large natural experiment that we can exploit to study phenotypic plasticity and organismality.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Final_submission_TiM.pdf (1.52 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

hal-03433044 , version 1 (29-11-2021)

Identifiants

Citer

Rik Verdonck, Delphine Legrand, Staffan Jacob, Hervé Philippe. Phenotypic plasticity through disposable genetic adaptation in ciliates. Trends in Microbiology, inPress, ⟨10.1016/j.tim.2021.06.007⟩. ⟨hal-03433044⟩
21 Consultations
103 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More