Epigenetics Posited as Important for Success of Invasive Species

Summary:

     Some ecologists are beginning to believe that epigenetics is one of the reason why invasive species do so well in certain environments. Epigenetics is an idea in which environmental factors leave a genome intact, but somehow modify certain genes. It is really difficult for ecologists to prove this theory though because the genomes of many wild organisms haven't been sequenced, so it is almost impossible to see which genes have been modified due to epigenetics. One strong piece of evidence supporting the idea of epigenetics is Japanese knotweed. Christina Richards, an ecologist, discovered that although Japanese knotweed is genetically identical, different knotweed had varying leaves and heights depending on their environment, Hopefully, Richards and her team will be able to prove or disprove their idea soon.

Relevance:

     This is relevant to our studies because although we learned that overtime, organisms can adapt to their environments, this idea of epigenetics puts a bit of a twist on that. Epigenetics is similar to natural selection because during natural selection, organisms with characteristics best adapted to a certain environment will reproduce and tend to do better than organisms that lack these characteristics. The phenotype of species that go through natural selection tends to change. This is the same with epigenetics. In epigenetics, there is no selection, however, genes seem to be modified, and this changes an organism's phenotype. Both of these changes in phenotype are beneficial to the species, and it helps them survive.

Article Title: Epigenetics Posited as Important for Success of Invasive Species

Authors: Sujata Gupta, Nature magazine

Date published: January 10, 2013

Link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=epigenetics-posited-as-important-for-success-of-invasive-species