PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Adaptive evolution is a process in which variation that confers an evolutionary advantage in a specific environmental context arises and is propagated through a population. When investigating this process, researchers have mainly focused on describing advantageous phenotypes or putative advantageous genotypes. A recent increase in molecular data accessibility and technological advances has allowed researchers to go beyond description and to make inferences about the mechanisms underlying adaptive evolution. In this systematic review, we discuss articles from 2016 to 2022 that investigated or reviewed the molecular mechanisms underlying adaptive evolution in vertebrates in response to environmental variation. Regulatory elements within the genome and regulatory proteins involved in either gene expression or cellular pathways have been shown to play key roles in adaptive evolution in response to most of the discussed environmental factors. Gene losses were suggested to be associated with an adaptive response in some contexts. Future adaptive evolution research could benefit from more investigations focused on noncoding regions of the genome, gene regulation mechanisms, and gene losses potentially yielding advantageous phenotypes. Investigating how novel advantageous genotypes are conserved could also contribute to our knowledge of adaptive evolution.
摘要：
适应性进化是一种过程，在这种过程中，在特定的环境背景下赋予进化优势的变异出现并通过种群传播。在调查这个过程时，研究人员主要集中在描述有利的表型或假定的有利基因型。最近分子数据可及性和技术进步的增加使研究人员能够超越描述，并对适应性进化的潜在机制做出推论。在这次系统审查中，我们讨论了2016年至2022年的文章，这些文章研究或回顾了脊椎动物响应环境变化的适应性进化的分子机制。基因组中的调控元件和参与基因表达或细胞途径的调控蛋白已被证明在响应大多数讨论的环境因素的适应性进化中起关键作用。在某些情况下，基因丢失被认为与适应性反应有关。未来的适应性进化研究可能会受益于更多针对基因组非编码区的研究，基因调控机制，和基因丢失可能产生有利的表型。研究新的有利基因型如何保守也可能有助于我们对适应性进化的了解。
