Postdoctoral Fellowship: OPP-PRF: Epigenetic Potential as a Driver of Local Adaptation in Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis Papua) along the Western Antarctic Peninsula

Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) inhabit one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), where environmental shifts are measured in years, not decades. Despite this, the species is flourishing, growing in numbers and colonizing new habitats while sister species, such as Adélie penguins (P. adeliae), are declining in the region. This project will investigate to what extent epigenetics contributes to the success of gentoo penguins. Epigenetic variation is controlled by modifications to DNA or chromatin structure that affect the expression of genes, rather than changes to the underlying DNA sequence. This project will improve the understanding of gentoo penguin adaptation to climate change, and whether it is a result of increased flexibility in behavior and physiology driven by a greater capacity for epigenetic changes (i.e., epigenetic potential). The most studied form of epigenetic variation is the profiling of DNA methylation patterns. Environmental effects can trigger changes in DNA methylation that target specific tissues, allowing for localized gene expression shifts that result in modifications to the phenotype of an organism without any alteration to the underlying genotype. Given that epigenetic variation between populations often exceeds genetic variation, fine-scale genetic differentiation observed amongst gentoo penguin colonies suggests the possibility for local adaptation via even more divergent epigenetic changes and provides a framework for examining epigenetic variation across the gentoo penguin breeding range along multiple ecological axes. The researchers will test this by comprehensively characterizing the epigenomic profiles via patterns of DNA methylation in wild gentoo and Adélie penguins using cutting-edge high-resolution genomics techniques. Specifically, they will investigate whether gentoo penguins exhibit a greater degree of differences in DNA-methylation than underlying genetic differences, suggesting such epigenetic variation is driven by external environmental variables, potentially leading to improved capacity for local adaptation. This project will explore whether epigenetic potential may be selected for in individuals who disperse to new colony locations by comparing older, established colonies to new colonies at the range-edge. By implementing cutting-edge epigenetic methods in wild populations of gentoo penguins, this project will help address ecological questions on environmental plasticity that will impact conservation efforts and decisions on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on the Antarctic Peninsula. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.