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Epigenetic origin of adaptive phenotypic variants in the human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni

Overview of attention for article published in Epigenetics & Chromatin, July 2016
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (77th percentile)
  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source

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Title
Epigenetic origin of adaptive phenotypic variants in the human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni
Published in
Epigenetics & Chromatin, July 2016
DOI 10.1186/s13072-016-0076-2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Sara Fneich, André Théron, Céline Cosseau, Anne Rognon, Benoit Aliaga, Jérôme Buard, David Duval, Nathalie Arancibia, Jérôme Boissier, David Roquis, Guillaume Mitta, Christoph Grunau

Abstract

Adaptive evolution is not possible without the generation of phenotypic variants. The origin of these variations has been a central topic in evolutionary biology. Up to now, it was commonly accepted that standing genetic variation is the only cause of phenotypic variants. However, epigenetic information is emerging as a complementary source of heritable phenotypic variation that contributes to evolution. The relative importance of genetics and epigenetics in generating heritable phenotypic variation is nevertheless a matter of debate. We used a host-parasite system to address this question. The human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni can adapt rapidly to new intermediate snail hosts. The interaction between parasite and mollusk is characterized by a compatibility polymorphism illustrating the evolutionary dynamics in this system. The principal molecular marker for compatibility (infection success) is the expression pattern of a group of polymorphic mucins (SmPoMuc) in the parasite. We show here that chromatin structure changes as the SmPoMuc promoters are the cause for SmPoMuc transcription polymorphism leading to phenotypic novelty and increase in infection success, i.e., fitness. We establish that epigenetic changes can be the major if not only cause of adaptive phenotypic variants in Schistosoma mansoni, suggesting that epimutations can provide material for adaptive evolution in the absence of genetic variation in other systems. In addition, our results indicate that epidrugs can be used to control parasite development but also parasite evolution.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 64 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 64 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Postgraduate 25 39%
Student > Bachelor 7 11%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 11%
Researcher 6 9%
Lecturer 2 3%
Other 4 6%
Unknown 13 20%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 26 41%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 19 30%
Immunology and Microbiology 3 5%
Physics and Astronomy 1 2%
Unknown 15 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 July 2016.
All research outputs
#4,191,633
of 22,880,230 outputs
Outputs from Epigenetics & Chromatin
#172
of 568 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#74,489
of 354,139 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Epigenetics & Chromatin
#8
of 16 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,880,230 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 80th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 568 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 69% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 354,139 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 16 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 50% of its contemporaries.