Pea aphid wing plasticity variation has a multigenic basis

Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of a single genotype to produce a range of phenotypes in response to environmental cues, can exhibit genetic variation like any trait. Discovering the genetic basis of plasticity and plasticity variation is critical to understand how populations will respond to the ongoing environmental challenges brought about by, for example, climate change. Here, we investigate the genetic basis of the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) wing plasticity variation. In this species, genetically identical, highly fecund wingless and dispersive winged individuals are produced by pea aphid mothers in uncrowded versus crowded environments, respectively. We focus specifically on the genetic basis of the propensity to produce winged individuals in response to crowding. We crossed a low- to high-plasticity line and examined plasticity variation in backcross progeny (F1 x low parent), finding that differences between lines had a strong genetic component and that multiple loci likely contributed to this variation. We employed RFLP genotyping to assess a candidate locus that we hypothesize may contribute to variation in wing plasticity. This project also has an RNAseq component, which can be accessed via the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (PRJNA1172746).