{"title":"To live or let die? Epigenetic adaptations to climate change-a review.","authors":"Jonas Zetzsche, Manon Fallet","doi":"10.1093/eep/dvae009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anthropogenic activities are responsible for a wide array of environmental disturbances that threaten biodiversity. Climate change, encompassing temperature increases, ocean acidification, increased salinity, droughts, and floods caused by frequent extreme weather events, represents one of the most significant environmental alterations. These drastic challenges pose ecological constraints, with over a million species expected to disappear in the coming years. Therefore, organisms must adapt or face potential extinctions. Adaptations can occur not only through genetic changes but also through non-genetic mechanisms, which often confer faster acclimatization and wider variability ranges than their genetic counterparts. Among these non-genetic mechanisms are epigenetics defined as the study of molecules and mechanisms that can perpetuate alternative gene activity states in the context of the same DNA sequence. Epigenetics has received increased attention in the past decades, as epigenetic mechanisms are sensitive to a wide array of environmental cues, and epimutations spread faster through populations than genetic mutations. Epimutations can be neutral, deleterious, or adaptative and can be transmitted to subsequent generations, making them crucial factors in both long- and short-term responses to environmental fluctuations, such as climate change. In this review, we compile existing evidence of epigenetic involvement in acclimatization and adaptation to climate change and discuss derived perspectives and remaining challenges in the field of environmental epigenetics. <b>Graphical Abstract</b>.</p>","PeriodicalId":11774,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epigenetics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11321362/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Epigenetics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvae009","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GENETICS & HEREDITY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities are responsible for a wide array of environmental disturbances that threaten biodiversity. Climate change, encompassing temperature increases, ocean acidification, increased salinity, droughts, and floods caused by frequent extreme weather events, represents one of the most significant environmental alterations. These drastic challenges pose ecological constraints, with over a million species expected to disappear in the coming years. Therefore, organisms must adapt or face potential extinctions. Adaptations can occur not only through genetic changes but also through non-genetic mechanisms, which often confer faster acclimatization and wider variability ranges than their genetic counterparts. Among these non-genetic mechanisms are epigenetics defined as the study of molecules and mechanisms that can perpetuate alternative gene activity states in the context of the same DNA sequence. Epigenetics has received increased attention in the past decades, as epigenetic mechanisms are sensitive to a wide array of environmental cues, and epimutations spread faster through populations than genetic mutations. Epimutations can be neutral, deleterious, or adaptative and can be transmitted to subsequent generations, making them crucial factors in both long- and short-term responses to environmental fluctuations, such as climate change. In this review, we compile existing evidence of epigenetic involvement in acclimatization and adaptation to climate change and discuss derived perspectives and remaining challenges in the field of environmental epigenetics. Graphical Abstract.
人类活动造成了一系列威胁生物多样性的环境干扰。气候变化包括温度升高、海洋酸化、盐度增加、干旱以及极端天气事件频发导致的洪水,是最重要的环境变化之一。这些剧烈的挑战对生态造成了限制,预计未来几年将有超过一百万个物种消失。因此,生物必须适应,否则可能面临灭绝。适应不仅可以通过基因变化实现,也可以通过非遗传机制实现,非遗传机制往往比遗传机制更快适应环境,变异范围更广。在这些非遗传机制中,表观遗传学被定义为对分子和机制的研究,这些分子和机制可以在相同的 DNA 序列背景下延续替代的基因活动状态。在过去几十年中,表观遗传学受到越来越多的关注,因为表观遗传学机制对各种环境线索非常敏感,而且表观突变在人群中的传播速度比基因突变更快。表观突变可以是中性的、有害的或适应性的,并且可以传递给后代,这使它们成为对气候变化等环境波动做出长期和短期反应的关键因素。在这篇综述中,我们梳理了表观遗传学参与适应和适应气候变化的现有证据,并讨论了环境表观遗传学领域的衍生观点和仍然存在的挑战。图解摘要。