Developmental plasticity describes the capacity of individuals with the same genotype to induce permanent change in a phenotype depending on a specific external input. One well-studied example of adaptive developmental plasticity is the induction of facultative diapause in insects. Studies investigating the inheritance of diapause induction have suggested diverse genetic origins. However, only few studies have performed genome-wide scans to identify genes affecting the induction decision. Here we compare two populations of the butterfly Pieris napi that differ in the propensity to enter diapause, and despite showing a low genome-wide divergence, we identify a few genomic regions that show high divergence between populations. We then identified a single genomic region associated with diapause induction by genotyping diapausing and directly developing siblings from backcrosses of these populations. This region is located on the Z-chromosome and contained three circadian clock genes, cycle, clock, and period. Additionally, period harbored the largest number of SNPs showing complete fixation between populations. We conclude that the heritable basis of between population variation in the plasticity that determines diapause induction resides on the Z chromosome, with the period gene being the prime candidate for the genetic basis of adaptive plasticity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

中文翻译：

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与滞育诱导中的种群差异相关的性染色体区域在时钟基因上包含高度不同的等位基因

发育可塑性描述了具有相同基因型的个体根据特定的外部输入诱导表型永久变化的能力。适应性发育可塑性的一个经过充分研究的例子是诱导昆虫的兼性滞育。调查滞育诱导遗传的研究表明存在不同的遗传起源。然而，只有少数研究进行了全基因组扫描来识别影响诱导决定的基因。在这里，我们比较了进入滞育倾向不同的两个蝴蝶 Pieris napi 种群，尽管显示出较低的全基因组差异，但我们确定了一些在种群之间显示出高度差异的基因组区域。然后，我们通过对滞育进行基因分型并从这些种群的回交中直接发育兄弟姐妹，确定了与滞育诱导相关的单个基因组区域。该区域位于 Z 染色体上，包含三个生物钟基因，cycle、clock 和 period。此外，时期拥有最多数量的 SNP，显示群体之间的完全固定。我们得出结论，决定滞育诱导的可塑性的种群间变异的遗传基础存在于 Z 染色体上，而周期基因是适应性可塑性遗传基础的主要候选者。本文受版权保护。版权所有。此外，时期拥有最多数量的 SNP，显示群体之间的完全固定。我们得出结论，决定滞育诱导的可塑性的种群间变异的遗传基础存在于 Z 染色体上，而周期基因是适应性可塑性遗传基础的主要候选者。本文受版权保护。版权所有。此外，时期拥有最多数量的 SNP，显示群体之间的完全固定。我们得出结论，决定滞育诱导的可塑性的种群间变异的遗传基础存在于 Z 染色体上，而周期基因是适应性可塑性遗传基础的主要候选者。本文受版权保护。版权所有。