title: What do studies of insect polyphenisms tell us about nutritionally-triggered epigenomic changes and their consequences?
abstract: Many insects are capable of remarkable changes in biology and form in response to their environment or diet. The most extreme example of these are polyphenisms, which are when two or more different phenotypes are produced from a single genotype in response to the environment. Polyphenisms provide a fascinating opportunity to study how the environment affects an animal's genome, and how this produces changes in form. Here we review the current state of knowledge of the molecular basis of polyphenisms and what can be learnt from them to understand how nutrition may influence our own genomes.
authors.affiliation: Gravida and Genetics Otago, Biochemistry Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. andrew.cridge@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Cridge
authors.affiliation: Gravida and Genetics Otago, Biochemistry Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. megan.leask@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Megan P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Leask
authors.affiliation: Gravida and Genetics Otago, Biochemistry Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. elizabeth.duncan@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.affiliation: Gravida and Genetics Otago, Biochemistry Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. peter.dearden@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Peter K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Dearden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D004777:Environment; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D057890:Epigenomics; D058685:Genetic Pleiotropy; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics*; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype