Environmental Genomics
Origins of biodiversity
Acclimation - to be or not to be dormant
If conditions are good, that is sufficient food is available, young nematode worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) will develop into adults. However, if conditions are not good, they become dormant and do not develop into reproductive adults. The larvae only resume development when conditions improve. So, depending on the quality of the environment, the nematode may or may not be dormant.
This is a classic example of an acclimation response to environmental change and the genetic mechanisms of how this occurs are well known. Scientists have now moved on to study different strains of the roundworms that show different abilities to form this dormant stage in response to an environmental change.
They found that different strains show differences in fitness and that the differences are associated with two new Quantitative Trait Loci, which control whether the genetic system that produces dormancy is expressed or not.
This shows that the genes for adaptation are not necessarily the same as the genes responsible for acclimation.