{"entity": "researcher", "timestamp": "2026-09-23T14:59:35.086Z", "family": "Steward", "given": "Rachel A", "initials": "RA", "orcid": "0000-0001-8610-334X", "affiliations": ["Zoology Department, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. rachel.steward@biol.lu.se.", "Biology Department, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. rachel.steward@biol.lu.se."], "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/f47144d62760484b87623f2c0b3f6a88.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/f47144d62760484b87623f2c0b3f6a88"}}, "publications": [{"entity": "publication", "iuid": "ac569d1661f34a7ea4f486eecf32a03d", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/ac569d1661f34a7ea4f486eecf32a03d.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/ac569d1661f34a7ea4f486eecf32a03d"}}, "title": "Genetic constraints in genes exhibiting splicing plasticity in facultative diapause.", "authors": [{"family": "Steward", "given": "Rachel A", "initials": "RA", "orcid": "0000-0001-8610-334X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/f47144d62760484b87623f2c0b3f6a88.json"}}, {"family": "Pruisscher", "given": "Peter", "initials": "P"}, {"family": "Roberts", "given": "Kevin T", "initials": "KT", "orcid": "0000-0003-2785-5108", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/afb2c651be354af9aef11597674ec90f.json"}}, {"family": "Wheat", "given": "Christopher W", "initials": "CW"}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2024-03-00", "journal": {"title": "Heredity (Edinb)", "issn": "1365-2540", "volume": "132", "issue": "3", "pages": "142-155", "issn-l": "0018-067X"}, "abstract": "Phenotypic plasticity is produced and maintained by processes regulating the transcriptome. While differential gene expression is among the most important of these processes, relatively little is known about other sources of transcriptional variation. Previous work suggests that alternative splicing plays an extensive and functionally unique role in transcriptional plasticity, though plastically spliced genes may be more constrained than the remainder of expressed genes. In this study, we explore the relationship between expression and splicing plasticity, along with the genetic diversity in those genes, in an ecologically consequential polyphenism: facultative diapause. Using 96 samples spread over two tissues and 10 timepoints, we compare the extent of differential splicing and expression between diapausing and direct developing pupae of the butterfly Pieris napi. Splicing differs strongly between diapausing and direct developing trajectories but alters a smaller and functionally unique set of genes compared to differential expression. We further test the hypothesis that among these expressed loci, plastically spliced genes are likely to experience the strongest purifying selection to maintain seasonally plastic phenotypes. Genes with unique transcriptional changes through diapause consistently had the lowest nucleotide diversity, and this effect was consistently stronger among genes that were differentially spliced compared to those with just differential expression through diapause. Further, the strength of negative selection was higher in the population expressing diapause every generation. Our results suggest that maintenance of the molecular mechanisms involved in diapause progression, including post-transcriptional modifications, are highly conserved and likely to experience genetic constraints, especially in northern populations of P. napi.", "doi": "10.1038/s41437-024-00669-2", "pmid": "38291272", "labels": [], "xrefs": [{"db": "pmc", "key": "PMC10923799"}, {"db": "pii", "key": "10.1038/s41437-024-00669-2"}], "notes": [], "created": "2026-09-23T12:21:24.341Z", "modified": "2026-09-23T12:21:24.446Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "063de44677c94a4ead25f18e471b3e7c", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/063de44677c94a4ead25f18e471b3e7c.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/063de44677c94a4ead25f18e471b3e7c"}}, "title": "Larval transcriptomes reflect the evolutionary history of plant-insect associations.", "authors": [{"family": "de la Paz Celorio-Mancera", "given": "Maria", "initials": "M", "orcid": "0000-0003-0296-0577", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/309ef007cfc249e69905c8b23b05bc03.json"}}, {"family": "Steward", "given": "Rachel A", "initials": "RA", "orcid": "0000-0001-8610-334X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/f47144d62760484b87623f2c0b3f6a88.json"}}, {"family": "Pruisscher", "given": "Peter", "initials": "P"}, {"family": "Smialowska", "given": "Agata", "initials": "A"}, {"family": "Pires Braga", "given": "Mariana", "initials": "M", "orcid": "0000-0002-1253-2536", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/4f9064ed501545dca268c351c993aa26.json"}}, {"family": "Janz", "given": "Niklas", "initials": "N"}, {"family": "Wheat", "given": "Christopher W", "initials": "CW", "orcid": "0000-0003-1863-2340", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/77b0fc9157fe4852b14f55a804f5f13c.json"}}, {"family": "Nylin", "given": "S\u00f6ren", "initials": "S"}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2023-02-04", "journal": {"title": "Evolution", "issn": "1558-5646", "volume": "77", "issue": "2", "pages": "519-533", "issn-l": "0014-3820"}, "abstract": "In this study, we investigated whether patterns of gene expression in larvae feeding on different plants can explain important aspects of the evolution of insect-plant associations, such as phylogenetic conservatism of host use and re-colonization of ancestral hosts that have been lost from the host repertoire. To this end, we performed a phylogenetically informed study comparing the transcriptomes of 4 nymphalid butterfly species in Polygonia and the closely related genus Nymphalis. Larvae were reared on Urtica dioica, Salix spp., and Ribes spp. Plant-specific gene expression was found to be similar across butterfly species, even in the case of host plants that are no longer used by two of the butterfly species. These results suggest that plant-specific transcriptomes can be robust over evolutionary time. We propose that adaptations to particular larval food plants can profitably be understood as an evolved set of modules of co-expressed genes, promoting conservatism in host use and facilitating re-colonization. Moreover, we speculate that the degree of overlap between plant-specific transcriptomes may correlate with the strength of trade-offs between plants as resources and hence to the probability of colonizing hosts and complete host shifts.", "doi": "10.1093/evolut/qpac049", "pmid": "36625474", "labels": {"Mariana Pires Braga": "", "DDLS Fellow": ""}, "xrefs": [{"db": "pii", "key": "6881564"}], "notes": [], "created": "2026-09-23T12:52:38.070Z", "modified": "2026-09-23T12:52:38.166Z"}]}