Gluckman Peter D, Hanson Mark A, Spencer Hamish G
The Liggins Institute and National Research Centre for Growth and Development, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2005 Oct;20(10):527-33. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2005.08.001. Epub 2005 Aug 11.
The importance of a single genotype being able to produce different phenotypes in different environments (phenotypic plasticity) is widely recognized in evolutionary theory and its adaptive significance is clear. In most cases, the developing organism responds to an environmental cue by producing a selectively and immediately appropriate phenotype. One subset of phenotypic responses to environmental stimuli, however, does not necessarily provide an immediate selective advantage. Rather, these kinds of responses, which we call 'predictive adaptive responses' (PARs), act primarily to improve fitness at a later stage of development. We argue that PARs have had an important role in human evolution, and that their recognition and interpretation has major significance for public health.
单一基因型能够在不同环境中产生不同表型（表型可塑性），这一点在进化理论中已得到广泛认可，其适应性意义也很明显。在大多数情况下，发育中的生物体通过产生一种具有选择性且即时适宜的表型来对环境线索做出反应。然而，对环境刺激的表型反应的一个子集并不一定能立即提供选择性优势。相反，我们称之为“预测性适应反应”（PARs）的这类反应，主要作用是在发育的后期阶段提高适应性。我们认为PARs在人类进化中发挥了重要作用，对它们的识别和解释对公共卫生具有重大意义。
