Flies in disguise
Scientists have recently discovered that Drosophila melanogaster, also known as the Fruit Fly, has been accumulating hidden genetic variation. The protein responsible for this is heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90). Scientists have labelled it as an ‘evolutionary capacitor’, meaning that under normal conditions, Hsp90 buffers this genetic variation in D. melanogaster, inhibiting the introduction of both genetic and physical variation.
Scientists originally had the assumption that Hsp90’s only function was to buffer the effect of environmental stresses on D. melanogaster, but they were wrong. This assumption changed when the Hsp90 gene of D. melanogaster was ‘knocked out’. When this was achieved, it introduced flies with phenotypic (physical) variance, never seen before. Further experiments that involved ‘knocking out’ other genes have shown that they too, may have the potential to be evolutionary capacitors.
This suggests that Hsp90 might just be part of a large class of genes with the ability to act as evolutionary capacitors, which complement each other. These set of genes may influence the ability for organisms to adapt, even when not opposed by extreme environmental stress, for example, for sexual selection and predator-prey purposes.
Written by: 41202021
Primary reference:
Bergman, A, Siegal, ML 2003, ‘Evolutionary capacitance as a general feature of complex gene networks’, Nature, vol. 424, pp. 549-552.
Link:http://www.nsm.uh.edu/~dgraur/ArticlesPDFs/popbio2005/bergmansiegalcapacitance2003.pdf
Secondary reference:
Pigliucci, M 2002, ‘Buffer Zone’, Nature, vol. 417, pp. 598-599.
Link:http://bioinformatics.bio.uu.nl/BINF/pdf/Pigliucci.n02.pdf
Scientists have recently discovered that Drosophila melanogaster, also known as the Fruit Fly, has been accumulating hidden genetic variation. The protein responsible for this is heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90). Scientists have labelled it as an ‘evolutionary capacitor’, meaning that under normal conditions, Hsp90 buffers this genetic variation in D. melanogaster, inhibiting the introduction of both genetic and physical variation.
Scientists originally had the assumption that Hsp90’s only function was to buffer the effect of environmental stresses on D. melanogaster, but they were wrong. This assumption changed when the Hsp90 gene of D. melanogaster was ‘knocked out’. When this was achieved, it introduced flies with phenotypic (physical) variance, never seen before. Further experiments that involved ‘knocking out’ other genes have shown that they too, may have the potential to be evolutionary capacitors.
This suggests that Hsp90 might just be part of a large class of genes with the ability to act as evolutionary capacitors, which complement each other. These set of genes may influence the ability for organisms to adapt, even when not opposed by extreme environmental stress, for example, for sexual selection and predator-prey purposes.
Written by: 41202021
Primary reference:
Bergman, A, Siegal, ML 2003, ‘Evolutionary capacitance as a general feature of complex gene networks’, Nature, vol. 424, pp. 549-552.
Link:http://www.nsm.uh.edu/~dgraur/ArticlesPDFs/popbio2005/bergmansiegalcapacitance2003.pdf
Secondary reference:
Pigliucci, M 2002, ‘Buffer Zone’, Nature, vol. 417, pp. 598-599.
Link:http://bioinformatics.bio.uu.nl/BINF/pdf/Pigliucci.n02.pdf
