Role of history and environment on phenotypic and genotypic convergence in yeast

Delphine Sicard

UMR Sciences pour l’oenologie, INRA Montpellier, France

Contact:Renaud Vitalis vitalis@supagro.inra.fr

Different organisms have independently and recurrently evolved similar phenotypic traits at different points throughout history. This phenotypic convergence may be caused by genotypic convergence and constrained by historical contingency. We investigate how convergence may be driven by selection in a particular environment and constrained by history using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system. We used two approaches, i) the analysis of life-history traits variation in strains coming from different environments ii) experimental evolution of genetically distant strains in four environments. We found that yeast population converged towards different life-history strategy depending on the environment. Phenotypic convergence can be partly explained by genotypic convergence. The evolution of most traits, as well as the occurrence of some mutations, are significantly influenced by the ancestor. However, this effect cannot be easily predicted from ancestors’ phylogeny or past-selection. All together, our data demonstrate that phenotypic and its underlying genotypic convergence depends on a complex interplay between the evolutionary environment, pleiotropy and the evolutionary history of the population but are not straightforwardly predicable.

Recent publications:

Spor A., Kvitek D.J., Nidelet T., Martin J., Legrand J. Dillmann C., Bourgais A., de Vienne D., Sherlock G. & Sicard D. 2014. Phenotypic and genotypic convergences are influenced by historical contingency and environment in yeast. Evolution, 68, 772-790

Blein-Nicolas M, Albertin W, Valot B, Marullo P, Sicard D, Giraud C, Huet S, Bourgais A, Dillmann C, de Vienne D, Zivy M. 2013. Yeast Proteome Variations Reveal Different Adaptive Responses to Grape Must Fermentation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi: 10.1093/molbev/mst050

Albertin W., Marullo P., Aigle M., Dillmann C., de Vienne D. Bely M. and Sicard D. 2011. Population size drives the industrial yeast alcoholic fermentation and is under genetic control, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77(8):2772-84