Environmental Genomics
Environmental health
Measuring stress
Changing environments present serious challenges to all organisms in terms of stress and their ability to resist disease. Genomic tools help us understand the genetic basis for stress response.
Working
with the fruit fly (Drosophila), scientists used microarray technology
to identify which genes are expressed (activated) under stress.
They compared the expression profiles of strains of fly that differed genetically in their ability to deal with environmental challenges. For example, some flies were better able to withstand temperature changes or attacks by parasitoids - insects whose larvae develop by feeding on the bodies of other insects.
Why use fruit flies?
Fruit flies have a very short life cycle which means that many generations of fly can be studied over a relatively short period of time. This makes them ideal for scientists to study the outcome of 'natural' selection.
Genes for environmental extremes
Researchers found that different suites of genes are expressed in organisms depending on the environmental extremes of temperature or parasitoid load they were subjected to. Fruit flies with resistance to such environmental extremes expressed different suites of genes from non-resistant strains. A genomic response occurs within the life span of a single organism as well as over time through natural selection.