- Oct 2019
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www.plymouth.edu www.plymouth.edu
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If a plastic response operates through generalized responses or developmentalselection, it is more likely to be adaptive, leading to a higher probability of survival and thusmaintenance of standing genetic variation in a population. However, as discussed above, induc-tion of these mechanisms is costly and should result in an induced shift in life-history traits in thenew environment, leading to relatively longer development times, increased investment in feweroffspring, and potentially longer life spans.
This shows that even the more adaptive forms of plasticity (general responses and developmental selection) have some kind of trade off that would be negative in some way =. Illuminating the idea that no form of plasticity will be the "silver bullet" and that there is always a consequence in the plasticity of species.
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Induced plastic responses in novel or stressful environments often have clear energetic costs andlife-history trade-offs, although the costs may depend somewhat on the phenotype induced
This shows that there is no "best way" to adapt/acclimate to an environment because it is dependent on the phenotype induced. What may be a good phenotype in one environment won't be good for another. This in combination with the trade off of one phenotype for another may result in the extinction of a species instead of the rescue of the species.
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However, if the environment is shifting to an extreme degree, or in amore discrete manner (e.g., resources, toxins), it is unclear to what extent these tailored switcheswill contribute to adaptive plastic responses in novel environments.
This shows that the mechanisms that are evolved developmental switches will not do well in extreme environmental changes showing that an organism's "switch" may be maladaptive in new environment. This may be due to the different switches being way too specific resulting in organisms not being able to acclimate to extreme changes.
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makes the characterisation of the healthy microbiome extremely complex, because different taxonomic profiles can lead to ecosystems with similar behaviour
This may make it hard for scientists to come up with ways to provide people who may be missing certain microbes with the microbes that they need because one person's microbiome isn't the same as someone else's.
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hese interventions come with costs that have been underestimated, with the conse-quent overuse and abuse. Such costs are only justified when the intervention is needed.
Interesting because I know that if the baby is overdue or needs to come out a week or two early the doctors often times ask if you would like to be induced or if you want a c-section. With a lot of people not being aware of the implications that c-sections have on infants they may elect to have a c-section instead of being induced.
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reduced microbiota diversity is consistent with reduction in resilience—the capacity to bounce back after perturbations—and in resistance—to pathogens.
Is this what they mean when they say that exposure to microbes/germs are more beneficial for your immune system?
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nder natural conditions, the neonate and the microbiota develop in an orchestrated fashion under the nutritional, immunological, hormonal and prebiotic effect of maternal milk—a single food of complex biological formulation
What happens to those children that cannot be breastfed? Are they at a significant disadvantage when compared to kids that were breastfed? Does it depend on the individual?
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C-section as intrapartum antibiotics during vaginal delivery alter bacterial colonisation in the neonates
This makes sense that having c-sections don't expose infants to the same type of microbes that vaginal births have but what are the long-term effects on the offspring? Is there a way that these infants can obtain similar microbes throughout their life?
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The gut microbiota have been shown to impact diverse physiological processes ranging from adiposity/obesity, to energy metabolism, blood pressure control, glucose homeostasis, clotting risks or even behaviour
Wasn't aware that our gut microbiota impacted all of these things as well. I thought that it just helped aid in digestion.
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Thus, the microbiota occupies the interface between our bodies and the exterior, and interactions with the environment (including diet, sun-light, bathing, cosmetics) cross this interface
Could be why our microbiome is struggling due to the changing interactions with the environment.
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brupt changes in environmental conditions can lead to mal-adaptations (adaptations that were beneficial when first took place, but not anymore under new environmental conditions). Today, modernisation and urbanisation pose exactly this challenge to human health.
Interesting how the evolution of humans in terms of modernisation is having a negative impact on adaptations that were once thought to be beneficial. Didn't realize that the modernisation of humans is impacting our microbiomes too.
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theheritable“toad-smart”behaviourofthenorthernquollDasyurus hallucatusidentifiedbyKellyandPhillips(2018)inpopulationsrecentlyexposedtothecanetoadRhinella marinamayhaveanepigeneticbasis(Ledon-Rettigetal.,2013):translocating“toad-smart”individualsintosoontobeimpactedbutgeneticallysimilarrecipientpopulationsmayhelpnorthernquollsre-sisttoadinvasionwhilelimitingrisksofoutbreedingde
Great example as to how epigenetics could help benefit conservation efforts.
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epigeneticvariationmightbeofprimeinterestinfluctuatingenvironment,henceincreasingtheeffectofselectiononepigeneticcomparedwithgeneticvariationintheseenvironments
Understanding epigenetic variation is key to conservation because as the environment becomes less stable epigenetic variation may be key in helping animals adapt quicker than genetic variation
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Asaresult,someauthorsarguethatgiventheongoingglobalwarming,suchepigeneticallymediatedESDcouldbecomeanepigenetictrapbyalteringsexratioinnaturalpopu-lations
Interesting to bring up the downside of epigenetics. Also brings up how conservation and epigenetics are intertwined
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selectionmayfavourgeneticlinesassociatedwiththeepigeneticmachinerythatallowsflexibilitytoencodeforsomeadaptiveyetreversiblephenotypesinpredict-ablefluctuatingenvironments,thatisthegenotypesharbouringtheoptimaladaptivepheno
This is very interesting. It suggests that organisms with certain genotypes may have the specific epigenetic mechanisms that allow for more plasticity than organisms with different genotypes
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- Sep 2019
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www.plymouth.edu www.plymouth.edu
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Epigenetic processes are typically regulated by intrinsic developmental signals; yet, studies indicate that environments experienced during critical periods of development can alter methylation
In regards to question 5, this helps demonstrate why epigenetic mechanisms are relevant to people in human health because epigenetics may provide an explanation as to why certain people display the phenotypes they have based on the environments they were in during development. For example, someone who's mother went through periods of extreme stress while pregnant may express different phenotypes than someone's who's mother had a more calm pregnancy.
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Epigenetic modifications could facilitate canalization or genetic assimilation by maintaining an advantageous phenotype for multiple generations, thereby allowing time for genetic mutations to stabilize the phenotype
In reference to question 5, this statement shows that epigenetic mechanisms are relevant for both conservation biologists and people working in human health. This statement could explain why invasive species are as successful as they are at adapting to other environments as shown further down in the reading. It also is relevant to people working in the human health field because for example bacterial infections are a major problem in human health. When treated with antibiotics, one bacteria that expresses a phenotype that is advantageous to it's survival can replicate and continue to replicate causing the bacterial infection to get worse and the antibiotic becomes useless because it has already become antibiotic resistant.
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Here, mammalian browsing is correlated to a prickly leaf phenotype, and DNA methylation differs between prickly and nonprickly leaves
In reference to question 4, this is an example of how epigenetics doesn't alter the DNA sequence (genetics) but instead uses DNA methylation (nongenetic) to change the gene expression of whether or not holly trees display prickly or nonprickly leaves based on the gleaning of mammals
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obligate, where epigenetic variation depends on genetic variation, (2) facilitated, where the genotype determines the effect of the epigenotype in a probabilistic manner, and (3) pure, which is largely independent of genetic variation.
In regards to question 4, this section talks about different types of epigenetic variation and how it either depends on the genotype or it can be "largely independent of genetic variation" showing that it is non genetic.
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- Aug 2019
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academic.oup.com academic.oup.com
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The answer to that question is that the times are changing rapidly, and our current methods are not advancing us as quickly as the more forward-looking integrative approaches seem to be.
I think Wake's ideas about integrative biology are the way that science needs to be heading and hopefully already is since this article was published. Looking at a problem or research question through only one type of lens will never produce the same results as having people from many different disciplines looking at the same problem and attacking it from all different angles.
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