Evolutionary Physiology and Genomics in the Highly Adaptable Killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus).

Evolutionary Physiology and Genomics in the Highly Adaptable Killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus). Compr Physiol. 2020 Mar 12;10(2):637-671 Authors: Crawford DL, Schulte PM, Whitehead A, Oleksiak MF Abstract By investigating evolutionary adaptations that change physiological functions, we can enhance our understanding of how organisms work, the importance of physiological traits, and the genes that influence these traits. This approach of investigating the evolution of physiological adaptation has been used with the teleost fish Fundulus heteroclitus and has produced insights into (i) how protein polymorphisms enhance swimming and development; (ii) the role of equilibrium enzymes in modulating metabolic flux; (iii) how variation in DNA sequences and mRNA expression patterns mitigate changes in temperature, pollution, and salinity; and (iv) the importance of nuclear-mitochondrial genome interactions for energy metabolism. Fundulus heteroclitus provides so many examples of adaptive evolution because their local population sizes are large, they have significant standing genetic variation, and they experience large ranges of environmental conditions that enhance the likelihood that adaptive evolution will occur. Thus, F. heteroclitus research takes advantage of evolutionary changes associated with exposure to diverse environments, both across the North American Atlantic coast and within local habitats, to contrast neutral versus adaptive di...
Source: Comprehensive Physiology - Category: Physiology Tags: Compr Physiol Source Type: research