Meeting Abstract

13.5  Sunday, Jan. 4  GxExE Whiz!: The influence of genotype and multiple environments on the developing zebrafish cardiovascular system MARKS,, C.; MICHELSON,, A.V.*; BAGATTO,, B.; MOORE, , F. B.-G.; University of Akron; University of Akron; University of Akron; University of Akron andy.michelson@gmail.com

Genetics and environment are known to interact to influence phenotype. In quantitative genetics this is represented by a significant GxE interaction. However, while environments are known to vary over the ontogeny of an individual, the traditional quantitative genetic paradigm does not incorporate variation in ontogenetic environment. Recently, we have found interactions between developmental and adult environment (ExE interactions) in zebrafish developmental physiology and behavior. In this study, we tested for genetic variation in the extent to which these ontogenetic oxygen environments interact (GxExE) in the early development of the zebrafish cardiovascular system. We reared full and half-sibs for 48 hours of development that was divided into two, 24 hour ontogenetic periods (E_early and E_test). Utilizing a split clutch design, individuals were exposed to hypoxia, normoxia or a combination of the two environments for E_early and E_test. We measured cardiac output, and its component traits, stroke volume and heart rate, for all individuals. While we found that cardiac output increased significantly in hypoxic test environments as anticipated, we also found that cardiac output showed genetic variation for responses across the developmental environments (GxE_earlyxE_test) while the component traits did not. These results indicate that genotypes differ in the extent to which ontogenetic environments interact in determining phenotype.