In a rapidly changing climate,
the decline of animal populations is a very real concern. Today, an
international team of researchers report new evidence of reef fish adjusting to
global warming conditions at the genetic level.
For the first time, researchers
from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) and the
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST), have found that
reef fish can inherit from their parents the genetic tools to adjust to ocean
warming.
"When parents are exposed to
an increase in water temperature, we
found that their offspring improved their performance in these otherwise
stressful conditions by selectively modifying their epigenome," said
senior author Prof Philip Munday of Coral CoE at James Cook University.
Epigenetic change refers to
chemical modifications in the DNA that signals genes to be switched on or off.
A range of factors, including disease, famine, or in the case of this research,
heat stress, can stimulate these subtle changes.
In this study, when both parent
and offspring experienced the same elevated water temperatures, responsive
changes in their epigenome, via selective DNA methylation, were observed that
enhanced the next generation's ability to cope with the new, warmer
temperatures.
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