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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 15, 2026

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Evolutionary adaptations to new environments generally reverse plastic phenotypic changes.

Wei-Chin Ho^1,2, Jianzhi Zhang³

¹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.

Nature Communications

|January 26, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Organismal adaptation involves initial plastic changes, but genetic changes often reverse these, rather than reinforcing them. Phenotypic plasticity aids survival but doesn't typically facilitate genetic adaptation to new environments.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Genetics
Systems biology

Background:

Organismal adaptation to new environments can involve phenotypic plasticity and genetic changes.
The role of phenotypic plasticity as a facilitator of genetic adaptation is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether plastic phenotypic changes serve as stepping stones for genetic adaptation.
To analyze gene expression and metabolic flux during a two-phase adaptation process.

Main Methods:

Transcriptomic data analysis from experimental evolution studies.
Computational metabolic network analysis to assess metabolic flux changes.

Main Results:

Genetic changes frequently reverse plastic phenotypic changes, rather than reinforcing them.
Organismal fitness initially drops after environmental shifts but recovers through evolution, even with plasticity.
Plastic phenotypic changes are genetically compensated, not strengthened.

Conclusions:

Phenotypic plasticity is crucial for immediate survival in new environments.
Phenotypic plasticity does not generally facilitate genetic adaptation by aligning the phenotype with the new optimum.