Aubin-Horth Nadia, Renn Susan C P
Département de Sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Mol Ecol. 2009 Sep;18(18):3763-80. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04313.x. Epub 2009 Sep 1.
Phenotypic plasticity is the development of different phenotypes from a single genotype, depending on the environment. Such plasticity is a pervasive feature of life, is observed for various traits and is often argued to be the result of natural selection. A thorough study of phenotypic plasticity should thus include an ecological and an evolutionary perspective. Recent advances in large-scale gene expression technology make it possible to also study plasticity from a molecular perspective, and the addition of these data will help answer long-standing questions about this widespread phenomenon. In this review, we present examples of integrative studies that illustrate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying plastic traits, and show how new techniques will grow in importance in the study of these plastic molecular processes. These techniques include: (i) heterologous hybridization to DNA microarrays; (ii) next generation sequencing technologies applied to transcriptomics; (iii) techniques for studying the function of noncoding small RNAs; and (iv) proteomic tools. We also present recent studies on genetic model systems that uncover how environmental cues triggering different plastic responses are sensed and integrated by the organism. Finally, we describe recent work on changes in gene expression in response to an environmental cue that persist after the cue is removed. Such long-term responses are made possible by epigenetic molecular mechanisms, including DNA methylation. The results of these current studies help us outline future avenues for the study of plasticity.
表型可塑性是指单一基因型根据环境发育出不同表型的现象。这种可塑性是生命普遍存在的特征，在各种性状中都能观察到，并且常被认为是自然选择的结果。因此，对表型可塑性进行全面研究应涵盖生态学和进化生物学视角。大规模基因表达技术的最新进展使从分子层面研究可塑性成为可能，这些数据的加入将有助于解答有关这一普遍现象的长期问题。在本综述中，我们列举了一些综合研究实例，这些实例阐释了可塑性性状背后的分子和细胞机制，并展示了新技术在这些可塑性分子过程研究中的重要性将如何与日俱增。这些技术包括：（i）与DNA微阵列的异源杂交；（ii）应用于转录组学的新一代测序技术；（iii）研究非编码小RNA功能的技术；以及（iv）蛋白质组学工具。我们还介绍了近期关于遗传模型系统的研究，这些研究揭示了生物体如何感知并整合触发不同可塑性反应的环境信号。最后，我们描述了近期关于环境信号去除后仍持续存在的基因表达变化的研究。这种长期反应是由包括DNA甲基化在内的表观遗传分子机制实现的。当前这些研究结果有助于我们勾勒出未来可塑性研究的方向。
