Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande 6, Oeiras, Portugal.
Mol Ecol. 2011 Apr;20(7):1347-63. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05016.x. Epub 2011 Feb 22.
Aside from its selective role in filtering inter-individual variation during evolution by natural selection, the environment also plays an instructive role in producing variation during development. External environmental cues can influence developmental rates and/or trajectories and lead to the production of distinct phenotypes from the same genotype. This can result in a better match between adult phenotype and selective environment and thus represents a potential solution to problems posed by environmental fluctuation. The phenomenon is called adaptive developmental plasticity. The study of developmental plasticity integrates different disciplines (notably ecology and developmental biology) and analyses at all levels of biological organization, from the molecular regulation of changes in organismal development to variation in phenotypes and fitness in natural populations. Here, we focus on recent advances and examples from morphological traits in animals to provide a broad overview covering (i) the evolution of developmental plasticity, as well as its relevance to adaptive evolution, (ii) the ecological significance of alternative environmentally induced phenotypes, and the way the external environment can affect development to produce them, (iii) the molecular mechanisms underlying developmental plasticity, with emphasis on the contribution of genetic, physiological and epigenetic factors, and (iv) current challenges and trends, including the relevance of the environmental sensitivity of development to studies in ecological developmental biology, biomedicine and conservation biology.
除了在自然选择过程中选择性地过滤个体间变异方面发挥作用外，环境在发育过程中产生变异方面也起着指导作用。外部环境线索可以影响发育速度和/或轨迹，并导致同一基因型产生不同的表型。这可以使成年表型与选择环境更好地匹配，从而为环境波动带来的问题提供一种潜在的解决方案。这种现象被称为适应性发育可塑性。发育可塑性的研究整合了不同的学科（特别是生态学和发育生物学），并分析了从生物体发育变化的分子调控到自然种群中表型和适应性的变化等所有层次的生物学组织。在这里，我们重点介绍动物形态特征方面的最新进展和实例，提供一个广泛的概述，涵盖（i）发育可塑性的进化，以及其与适应性进化的关系，（ii）环境诱导的替代表型的生态意义，以及外部环境影响发育产生这些表型的方式，（iii）发育可塑性的分子机制，重点介绍遗传、生理和表观遗传因素的贡献，以及（iv）当前的挑战和趋势，包括发育的环境敏感性对生态发育生物学、生物医学和保护生物学研究的相关性。
