The genetic control and the phenotypic response of major life-history traits of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans under environmental stress.

所有生物都生活在变化的环境中。环境在很多方面都有变化，比如有多少食物和温度。其中一些变化是可以预测的，比如季节导致的温度变化。其他方面则难以预测，比如食物的供应可能取决于有多少人在吃它。因此，生物进化出了在这种不断变化的环境中最大限度地生存和繁殖的方法。对于一种生活在土壤中的线虫（称为秀丽隐杆线虫），我们研究了它作为未成熟幼虫是如何阻止其发育的，以及它是如何在环境变化时改变其繁殖的。通过研究该物种的实验室菌株，我们发现，当环境发生变化时，蠕虫在如何改变幼虫捕获和繁殖方面存在差异。我们认为，来自世界不同地区的蠕虫之所以存在这些差异，是因为它们在不同的环境中进化，而这些不同的反应对这些不同的环境是最好的。这些对环境变化的反应是由基因控制的，我们已经发现了基因组中控制这一点的10个区域。总之，之前的工作已经表明，环境变化如何影响幼虫捕获和成虫繁殖；这些变化在不同的蠕虫品系之间是不同的，这些对环境变化的反应是由相对较少的基因组区域控制的。我们现在想进一步测试这些发现。特别是，我们想看看最近从野外采集的秀丽隐杆线虫菌株是否对环境变化有同样的反应，以及这些反应是否可以通过人工选择来改变。我们还将进一步研究基因组的10个区域，试图确定控制这些环境反应的特定基因。这样做的原因是为了弄清楚我们认为秀丽隐杆线虫以这些方式对环境变化做出反应的方式和原因是否正确。因此，这项工作旨在深入了解一个研究得很好的物种是如何对环境变化做出反应的，以及控制这种变化的基因。这项工作很重要，因为环境变化是所有生物生命的共同特征。详细了解一个物种的这种关系，将有助于我们进一步了解适用于其他生物的一般原理。了解这一点具有一定的紧迫性，因为许多生物的环境正在发生变化，主要是由于人类活动带来的变化。

All organisms live in environments that vary. Environments vary in very many ways, such as how much food there is available and the temperature. Some of this variation may be predictable, such as temperature because of seasons. Other aspects are less predictable, such as food availability which may depend on how many other individuals are eating it. Organisms have therefore evolved ways to maximise their survival and reproduction in such changing environments. For one soil-dwelling nematode worm (called Caenorhabditis elegans) we have investigated how it arrests its development as an immature larva and how it alters its reproduction when the environment changes. Studying laboratory strains of this species, we have found that worms differ in how they alter their larval arrest and reproduction when the environment changes. We think that these differences between worms from different parts of the world occur because they have evolved in different environments and that these different responses are best for these different environments. These responses to changes in the environment are controlled by genes and we have discovered the 10 regions of the genome that control this. In summary, this previous work has shown how larval arrest and adult reproduction can be affected by environmental change; that these changes differ between different worm strains and that these responses to environmental change are controlled by relatively few regions of the genome. We now want to test these findings further. In particular, we want to see whether strains of Caenorhabditis elegans recently taken from the wild, respond in the same way to environmental change and whether these responses can be altered by artificial selection. We also will investigate further the 10 regions of the genome to try and identify the particular genes that control these environmental responses. The reason for doing this is to work out if our ideas for how and why we think Caenorhabditis elegans responds to environmental change in these ways are correct. This work is therefore seeking to deeply understand how one well studied species responds to environmental change and the genes that control this. This work is important because environmental change is a common feature of the life of all organisms. Understanding this relationship in great detail for one species will help us to develop our understanding of the general principles that apply to other organisms. Understanding this has some urgency because the environment of many organisms is changing, largely due to changes brought about by human activity.