Biology subjects

Rabin, Y.

Publications and source records attributed to Rabin, Y..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Population model of epigenetic inheritance of acquired adaptation to changing environments

Accumulated evidence of transgenerational inheritance of epigenetic and symbiotic changes begs the question of under which conditions inheritance of acquired changes can confer long-term advantage to the population. To address this question, we introduce a population epigenetics model of individuals undergoing stochastic and/or induced changes that are transmitted to the offspring. Potentially adaptive and maladaptive responses are represented, respectively, by environmentally driven changes that reduce and increase the individuals rate of death (i.e. reduction and increase of selective pressure). Analytic solution in a simplified case of exposure to two types of dynamic environments shows that inheritance of changes that transiently alleviate the selective pressure confers long-term advantage even when the transmitted state is maladaptive to the offspring. The benefits of inheriting environmentally driven changes that reduce the death rate within a lifetime include escape from extinction under a wide range of conditions. These advantages are even more pronounced in populations with imperfect inheritance and/or age-dependent decline in fertility. These findings show that inheritance of non-genetic changes can have tremendous benefits for the population on timescales that are much longer than the lifetime of an individual.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Molecular model of the nuclear pore complex reveals a thermoreversible FG-network with distinct territories occupied by different FG motifs

Despite the intensive study of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), its functional core, the central transporter, remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate this unfolded and dynamic part of the NPC using a molecular theory that addresses both entropic and enthalpic effects of the intrinsically disordered phenylalanine-glycine-rich nucleoporins (FG-Nups). Our model shows that the cooperative effect of FG-pairing, specific spacer cohesion, and charge interaction leads to a remarkably elaborate gating structure inside the NPC. In particular, we find sequence-programmed \"phase separation\" between charge-rich and charge-poor regions, and a polarized electrostatic potential throughout the NPC. The model predicts a thermoreversible FG-network with inhomogeneous FG-pairing fraction in space, which features distinct territories of different types of FG motifs. Our theoretical anatomy of the central transporter reveals a clear sequence-structure-function relationship of the FG-Nups, and explains in a self-consistent way how nucleocytoplasmic transport can be efficient yet specific.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2016

Darwinian Selection Induces Lamarckian Adaptation in a Holobiont Model

BackgroundThe relatively fast selection of symbiotic bacteria within hosts and the potential transmission of these bacteria across generations of hosts raise the question of whether interactions between host and bacteria support emergent adaptive capabilities beyond those of germ-free hosts.\n\nResultsTo investigate possibilities for emergent adaptations that may distinguish composite host-microbiome systems from germ-free hosts, we introduce a population genetics model of a host-microbiome system with vertical transmission of bacteria. The host and its bacteria are jointly exposed to a toxic agent, creating a toxic stress that can be alleviated by selection of resistant individuals and by secretion of a detoxification agent (\"detox\"). We show that toxic exposure in one generation of hosts leads to selection of resistant bacteria, which in turn, increases the toxic tolerance of the hosts offspring. Prolonged exposure to toxin over many host generations promotes additional form of emergent adaptation due to selection of hosts based on detox capabilities of their bacterial community as a whole (as opposed to properties of individual bacteria).\n\nConclusionsThese findings show that interactions between pure Darwinian selections of host and its bacteria can give rise to emergent adaptive capabilities, including Lamarckian-like adaptation of the host-microbiome system.

evolutionary biology↗