Abstract
How underlying mechanisms bias evolution toward predictable outcomes
remains an area of active debate. In this study, we leveraged phenotypic
plasticity and parallel adaptation across independent lineages of
Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to assess the predictability
of gene expression evolution during parallel adaptation. We observed
substantial gene expression plasticity as well as the evolution of
expression plasticity itself across populations. Genes exhibiting
expression plasticity within populations were more likely to also differ
in expression between populations, with the direction of expression
divergence more likely to be opposite than in the same direction as
plasticity. While we also found more overlap than expected by chance in
genes differentially expressed between high- and low-predation
populations from different lineages, the majority of differentially
expressed genes were not shared between distinct evolutionary lineages.
Our data suggest alternative transcriptional configurations associated
with shared phenotypes, highlighting a role for transcriptional
flexibility associated with parallel phenotypic evolution in a species
known for rapid adaptation.