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Related Concept Videos

Energy Budgets and Reproductive Strategies00:51

Energy Budgets and Reproductive Strategies

Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance, and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species reproduce only once in their lifetime, often investing most available resources into that single reproductive event. Iteroparous species, by contrast, reproduce multiple times over their lifetimes, typically allocating fewer resources to any single...
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Background and Environment Affect Phenotype

Although the genetic makeup of an organism plays a major role in determining the phenotype, there are also several environmental factors, such as temperature, oxygen availability, presence of mutagens, that can alter an organism’s phenotype.
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
Pleiotropy01:33

Pleiotropy

Pleiotropy is the phenomenon in which a single gene impacts multiple, seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits. For example, defects in the SOX10 gene cause Waardenburg Syndrome Type 4, or WS4, which can cause defects in pigmentation, hearing impairments, and an absence of intestinal contractions necessary for elimination. This diversity of phenotypes results from the expression pattern of SOX10 in early embryonic and fetal development. SOX10 is found in neural crest cells that form melanocytes,...
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Heritability

Heritability is a statistical concept that measures the degree to which genetic differences among individuals contribute to trait variations within a population. It is a fundamental idea in genetics, often prone to misinterpretation. Heritability is expressed as a percentage, reflecting the proportion of variation in a specific trait across a population that can be linked to genetic differences. However, it's important to understand that heritability does not determine how "genetic" a trait is,...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Determining the Role of Maternally-Expressed Genes in Early Development with Maternal Crispants
10:08

Determining the Role of Maternally-Expressed Genes in Early Development with Maternal Crispants

Published on: December 21, 2021

The thrifty phenotype as an adaptive maternal effect.

Jonathan C K Wells1

  • 1Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH. J.Wells@ich.ucl.ac.uk

Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
|February 23, 2007
PubMed
Summary

The thrifty phenotype, influenced by early-life nutrition, may not be adaptive for offspring. It

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Developmental biology
  • Human health

Background:

  • Adult diseases link to early life growth patterns and nutrition.
  • The thrifty phenotype hypothesis suggests early metabolic adaptations aid survival.
  • Recent views propose it prepares offspring for adult environments, but plasticity windows close early.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate the adaptive nature of the thrifty phenotype in humans.
  • To explore the interplay of developmental plasticity, niche construction, and maternal effects.
  • To understand how maternal fitness influences offspring phenotype.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual review and synthesis of evolutionary and developmental theories.
  • Analysis of human brain evolution and maternal provisioning.

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  • Examination of pathways linking maternal phenotype to offspring health outcomes.

    • Main Results:

    • The thrifty phenotype results from niche construction, maternal effects, and developmental plasticity, influenced by large human brains.
    • It is proposed as an adaptation for maternal fitness, aligning offspring growth with maternal provisioning capacity.
    • Offspring are exposed to adverse health effects through maternal factors and postnatal environments.

    Conclusions:

    • The thrifty phenotype is better understood as a manipulation for maternal fitness, not solely offspring adaptation.
    • Maternal developmental experience, not offspring's future environment, shapes early growth.
    • Contemporary health issues like metabolic syndrome arise from mismatches between early programming and modern environments.