Microevolution of mouthform plasticity. Natural variation of mouthform plasticity in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus

In this study, we investigate the natural variation of mouthform plasticity in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus. Through a multitude of techniques that included experimental crosses, quantitative trait loci mapping, transcriptomics, and gene editing, we were able to show that the natural variation of plasticity is largely controlled by cis-regulatory changes in a multi-gene locus that includes the master regulator of mouthform plasticity.