HOT stuff. For the first time, wild mammals have been seen responding to higher temperatures by altering how their DNA works. These 鈥渆pigenetic changes鈥� may adjust the activity of specific genes, and some are passed on to offspring.
鈥淕lobal temperatures are rising. It is crucial to understand how wild species are able to cope,鈥� says of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany.
Evolution by genetic mutation and natural selection can be slow. But attaching methyl molecules to DNA, affecting how genes are expressed, is much faster. Evidence from lab-bred and that such heat-induced epigenetic responses can even be inherited.
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To see if this can happen in more genetically diverse animals, Weyrich鈥檚 team studied guinea pigs sourced from South America. They allowed five males to mate with females in an enclosure at a normal ambient temperature of below 5 掳C, and then again with other females after spending two months at 30 掳C.
聯Epigenetic changes might buy a species time to evolve permanent adaptations聰
There were signs of altered methylation in at least 10 genes that regulate body temperature. 鈥淭his suggests global changes in the environment like climate change will affect all species through environmental epigenetics,鈥� says at Washington State University in Pullman.
There were also differences in the methylation patterns of the offspring conceived before and after heat treatment, suggesting temperature can affect the next generation (Molecular Ecology, ).
These epigenetic responses may help organisms cope, but they won鈥檛 make them adapt, says team member J枚rns Fickel, because they don鈥檛 affect the DNA sequence. Instead, they might buy a species time to evolve permanent adaptations to a warmer climate.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淕uinea pigs tweak genes to beat heat鈥�