Brisson Jennifer A, Davis Gregory K
Department of Biology, Box 270211, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, United States.
Department of Biology, Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Merion Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, United States.
Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2016 Feb 1;13:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2015.09.011.
Polyphenism is a form of developmental plasticity in which organisms respond to environmental cues by producing adaptive, discrete, alternative phenotypes known as morphs. The phenomenon is common and important as both a form of adaptation and a source of variation for natural selection. Understanding the evolution of polyphenism will require understanding the proximate factors that regulate alternative morph production. Renewed interest and technological advances have fueled multiple approaches to the latter, including hormone manipulation studies, targeted transcriptomic studies, and epigenetic profiling. We review these studies and suggest that integration of multilayered approaches will be necessary to understand the complex mechanisms involved in regulating alternative morphologies.
多型现象是一种发育可塑性形式，其中生物体通过产生被称为形态的适应性、离散的、替代表型来响应环境线索。作为一种适应形式和自然选择变异的来源，这种现象既常见又重要。理解多型现象的进化将需要理解调节替代形态产生的近端因素。新的兴趣和技术进步推动了针对后者的多种方法，包括激素操纵研究、靶向转录组学研究和表观遗传分析。我们回顾了这些研究，并表明整合多层方法对于理解调节替代形态的复杂机制是必要的。
