SCHULTE, P.M.; University of British Columbia, Vancouver: Changes in gene expression as adaptations to environmental change

As pointed out by Hochachka and Somero in the classic book �Biochemical Adaptation�, two distinct classes of adaptive adjustments in the metabolic machinery of the cell are possible in principle: changes in quantities (expression) or changes in properties (kinetics). It is now well established that changes in gene expression are a fundamental part of acclimation (or acclimatization) to environmental change within the lifetime of an individual, but the role of changes in gene expression as adaptations to environmental change over evolutionary time is less clear. For example, in the same book, Hochachka and Somero suggest that changes in the kinetic properties of proteins are more likely to be a fundamental mechanism for adaptive change over evolutionary time than are changes in protein expression, but at the time there was little evidence to support or refute this contention. In the years since the publication of �Biochemical Adaptation�, this question still provokes lively debate. In this talk, I explore some new approaches that address these old questions.