Nutrition-responsive development is a ubiquitous and highly diversified example of phenotypic plasticity, yet its underlying molecular and developmental mechanisms and modes of evolutionary diversification remain poorly understood. We measured genome-wide transcription in three closely related species of horned beetles exhibiting strikingly diverse degrees of nutrition responsiveness in the development of male weaponry. We show that (1) counts of differentially expressed genes between low- and high-nutritional backgrounds mirror species-specific degrees of morphological nutrition responsiveness; (2) evolutionary exaggeration of morphological responsiveness is underlain by both amplification of ancestral nutrition-responsive gene expression and recruitment of formerly low nutritionally responsive genes; and (3) secondary loss of morphological responsiveness to nutrition coincides with a dramatic reduction in gene expression plasticity. Our results further implicate genetic accommodation of ancestrally high variability of gene expression plasticity in both exaggeration and loss of nutritional plasticity, yet reject a major role of taxon-restricted genes in the developmental regulation and evolution of nutritional plasticity.

中文翻译：

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营养反应性基因表达和昆虫多态性的发育演变。

营养反应性发育是表型可塑性的普遍存在且高度多样化的例子，但是其潜在的分子和发育机制以及进化多样化的方式仍然知之甚少。我们在雄性武器的发展中，在表现出惊人程度不同的营养反应性的三个有角甲虫物种中，测量了全基因组转录。我们显示（1）低营养和高营养背景之间差异表达基因的数量反映了物种特定的形态营养响应度；（2）祖先营养反应性基因表达的扩增和先前低营养反应性基因的募集是形态反应性进化上的夸大。（3）对营养的形态学响应能力的继发性丧失与基因表达可塑性的显着降低相吻合。我们的结果进一步暗示了基因表达可塑性的夸大和营养可塑性丧失的祖先高度变异的遗传适应，但拒绝了受分类群限制的基因在营养可塑性的发育调控和进化中的重要作用。