[Stress and genetic variability].

It was shown by D.K. Belyaev and the coworkers that stress can lead to changes in the degree of manifestation of genetic variation in a number of quantitative traits, such as fertility, growth rate and endocrine functions. The effects of emotional stress on the meiotic process in male mice were established. Stress inhibits both replication and repair of DNA at corresponding stages of meiosis. These are the reasons for an increase in X-Y and autosomal univalent frequency and recombination frequency in the 1-st and 2-nd chromosomes. Thus, stress leads to redistribution of recombination frequencies in the genome and produces the new spectrum of combination variation. The data presented support the concept of D.K. Belyaev that stress has substantial influence on the rate of evolution.