Kristin L. Sikkink

TL;DR: It is proposed that the mop1 RDRP is required to maintain a threshold level of repeat RNA, which functions in trans to establish and maintain the heritable chromatin states associated with paramutation.

TL;DR: Adaptive phenotypic plasticity provides a mechanism of developmental rescue in novel and rapidly changing environments and complex interactions between plastic responses that allow survival in novel environments and subsequent evolutionary responses at the population level are expected.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that apparent genetic assimilation can result from shifting thresholds of induction across environments and that analysis of the broader environmental context is critically important for understanding the evolution of phenotypic plasticity.

TL;DR: This work investigates an unprecedented reorganization of the standard lepidopteran chromosome structure in the green-veined white butterfly (Pieris napi) and finds that gene content in P. napi has been extensively rearranged in large collinear blocks, suggesting both a mechanism and a possible role for selection in determining the boundaries of these genome-wide rearrangements.

TL;DR: A factorial selection experiment using the nematode Caenorhabditis remanei is described in which two different stress‐related phenotypes were selected under three different environmental conditions, indicating that variation in pleiotropy across the stress response network is highly sensitive to the external environment.