Adaptive Changes and Genetic Mechanisms in Organisms Under Controlled Conditions: A Review

Author: mycolabadmin
2/27/2025
View Source

Summary

Organisms adapt to their environments through changes in their genes and how genes are expressed, processes that can happen over many generations even in laboratory settings. Scientists study these adaptations in fungi, insects, and plants grown under controlled conditions to understand how evolution works over shorter timeframes. The research shows that both genetic mutations and modifications to how genes work (without changing DNA itself) drive these adaptive changes. Understanding these mechanisms helps scientists improve crop productivity, develop disease resistance, and address environmental challenges like climate change.

Background

Adaptive changes encompass physiological, morphological, or behavioral modifications in organisms responding to environmental conditions. Understanding adaptive evolution mechanisms is critical for addressing climate change, emerging infectious diseases, and food security challenges. The genetic basis of adaptations can be examined through classical genetics (mutations, chromosomal instability) and epigenetics (DNA methylation, histone modifications).

Objective

To systematically compile findings on adaptive changes and their genetic foundations in organisms within controlled environments. To provide insights into fundamental evolutionary processes and offer novel theoretical frameworks and research methodologies, particularly for plant studies which remain limited.

Results

Microorganisms show strain degeneration with increased ROS and reduced metabolite production; animals demonstrate rapid phenotypic adaptations in reproductive, physiological, behavioral and morphological traits; plants exhibit modifications in morphology and biochemical parameters. Both classical genetic mechanisms (mutations, chromosomal instability) and epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation, histone modifications) drive these adaptive changes across taxa.

Conclusion

Adaptive changes under controlled conditions involve integrated frameworks of classical and epigenetic mechanisms that shape evolutionary responses at organismal and population levels. Short-term controlled experiments effectively model long-term evolutionary trends, particularly in microorganisms and animals, with expanding applications needed in plant research to advance agricultural and medical applications.

Published in:International Journal of Molecular Sciences,
Study Type:Review,
Source: PMID: 40076752, DOI: 10.3390/ijms26052130