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Updated: Jul 7, 2025
08:10
Environmentally Induced Heritable Changes in Flax
Published on: January 26, 2011
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Environmental change unlinks a gene from its trait
1The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd, Nelson, New Zealand.
Molecular Ecology
|December 26, 2023
Summary
Atlantic salmon exhibit a shift in evolution, with slower growth and later maturation impacting sea age and genetic factors. This challenges traditional views on evolutionary pace and highlights plasticity
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Genetics
- Life history traits
Background:
- Sea age is a key life history trait in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), influenced by a sex-specific survival-reproduction trade-off.
- Previous research identified candidate genes (vgll3, six6) associated with sea age and major effect loci.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential disassociation between sea age and major effect loci in Atlantic salmon.
- To explore the link between contemporary trends in growth/maturation and molecular/phenotypic evolution.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of genetic data in relation to sea age and phenotypic traits.
- Investigating the role of candidate genes (vgll3, six6) in observed evolutionary trends.
Main Results:
- Evidence suggests a disassociation between sea age and major effect loci, including vgll3 and six6.
- This disassociation may be linked to observed slower growth and later maturation in Atlantic salmon populations.
Conclusions:
- The findings challenge the notion of slow evolutionary change, suggesting contemporary evolution can occur rapidly.
- Growth-driven plasticity can alter optimal phenotypes, leading to observable molecular and phenotypic evolution in Atlantic salmon.
Keywords:
adaptationclimate changecontemporary evolutionfishlife history evolutionpolygenictrait architectureMore Related Videos
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