title: Selection on a Subunit of the NURF Chromatin Remodeler Modifies Life History Traits in a Domesticated Strain of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Evolutionary life history theory seeks to explain how reproductive and survival traits are shaped by selection through allocations of an individual's resources to competing life functions. Although life-history traits evolve rapidly, little is known about the genetic and cellular mechanisms that control and couple these tradeoffs. Here, we find that two laboratory-adapted strains of C. elegans descended from a single common ancestor that lived in the 1950s have differences in a number of life-history traits, including reproductive timing, lifespan, dauer formation, growth rate, and offspring number. We identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) of large effect that controls 24%-75% of the total trait variance in reproductive timing at various timepoints. Using CRISPR/Cas9-induced genome editing, we show this QTL is due in part to a 60 bp deletion in the 3' end of the nurf-1 gene, which is orthologous to the human gene encoding the BPTF component of the NURF chromatin remodeling complex. Besides reproduction, nurf-1 also regulates growth rate, lifespan, and dauer formation. The fitness consequences of this deletion are environment specific-it increases fitness in the growth conditions where it was fixed but decreases fitness in alternative laboratory growth conditions. We propose that chromatin remodeling, acting through nurf-1, is a pleiotropic regulator of life history trade-offs underlying the evolution of multiple traits across different species.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Edward E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Large
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2085-7223
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yuehui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Shannon C
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3043-1544
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Brady
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lijiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Butcher
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Erik C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Patrick T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: McGrath
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064113:CRISPR-Cas Systems; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly / Q000235:genetics; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D012641:Selection, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002843:Chromatin; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; C513436:NURF-1 protein, C elegans