Osmanović Dino, Rabin Yitzhak, Soen Yoav
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 May;12(18):e2414297. doi: 10.1002/advs.202414297. Epub 2025 Mar 18.
Accumulated evidence of transgenerational inheritance of epigenetic and symbiotic changes raises fundamental questions about the possible types, significance and duration of impacts on the population, as well as whether, and under which conditions, the inheritance of non-genetic changes confers long-term advantage to the population. To address these questions, a population epigenetics model of individuals undergoing stochastic changes and/or induced responses that are transmitted to the offspringis introduced. Potentially adaptive and maladaptive responses are represented, respectively, by environmentally driven changes that reduce and increase the selective pressure. Analytic solutions in a simplified case of populations that are exposed to either periodic or progressively deteriorating environments shows that acquisition and transmission of non-genetic changes that alleviate the selective pressure confer long-term advantage and may facilitate escape from extinction. Systematic analysis of outcomes as a function of population properties further identifies a non-traditional regime of adaptation mediated by stochastic changes that are rapidly acquired within a lifetime. Contrasting model predictions with experimental findings shows that inheritance of dynamically acquired changes enables rapid adaptation to unforeseen challenges and can account for population dynamics that is either unexpected or beyond the scope of traditional models.
表观遗传和共生变化的跨代遗传的累积证据，引发了关于对种群可能产生的影响类型、意义和持续时间，以及非遗传变化的遗传是否以及在何种条件下会赋予种群长期优势等基本问题。为了解决这些问题，引入了一个种群表观遗传学模型，该模型描述了经历随机变化和/或诱导反应并传递给后代的个体。潜在的适应性和适应不良反应分别由降低和增加选择压力的环境驱动变化来表示。在种群暴露于周期性或逐渐恶化环境的简化情况下的解析解表明，减轻选择压力的非遗传变化的获得和传递赋予了长期优势，并可能有助于避免灭绝。作为种群特性函数的结果的系统分析进一步确定了一种由一生中快速获得的随机变化介导的非传统适应机制。将模型预测与实验结果进行对比表明，动态获得的变化的遗传能够使种群快速适应不可预见的挑战，并可以解释那些出乎意料或超出传统模型范围的种群动态。
