The Forms, Uses and Significance of Genetic Variation in Endocrine Systems

Shire, J. G. M.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.1976.tb01121.x

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 188 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, it is useful to be reminded of Ernst Mayr's constant refrain that behavior is at the leading edge of evolution or Gottlieb's adage that "changes in behavior create the new variants on which natural selection works" [45]; this important point, first made by Bateson [10] and Morgan [72] more than a century ago, never made it into mainstream biology until recently, although it has been occasionally commented on by endocrinologists [25,96,98]. It is necessary to emphasize here though that the individual is the unit of selection and that an approach that integrates both Molecular and Molar epigenetics will be necessary to reveal the mechanisms that underlie behavioral evolution.…”

Section: Molar Epigeneticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetics and its implications for behavioral neuroendocrinology

Crews

2008

Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology

146

115

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Individuals vary in their sociosexual behaviors and reactivity. How the organism interacts with the environment to produce this variation has been a focus in psychology since its inception as a scientific discipline. There is now no question that cumulative experiences throughout life history interact with genetic predispositions to shape the individual's behavior. Recent evidence suggests that events in past generations may also influence how an individual responds to events in their own life history. Epigenetics is the study of how the environment can affect the genome of the individual during its development as well as the development of its descendants, all without changing the DNA sequence. Several distinctions must be made if this research is to become a staple in behavioral neuroendocrinology. The first distinction concerns perspective, and the need to distinguish and appreciate, the differences between Molecular versus Molar epigenetics. Each has its own lineage of investigation, yet both appear to be unaware of one another. Second, it is important to distinguish the difference between Context-Dependent versus Germline-Dependent epigenetic modifications. In essence the difference is one of the mechanism of heritability or transmission within, as apposed to across, generations. This review illustrates these distinctions while describing several rodent models that have shown particular promise for unraveling the contribution of genetics and the environment on sociosexual behavior. The first focuses on genetically-modified mice and makes the point that the early litter environment alters subsequent brain activity and behavior. This work emphasizes the need to understand behavioral development when doing research with such animals. The second focuses on a new rat model in which the epigenome is permanently imprinted, an effect that crosses generations to impact the descendants without further exposure to the precipitating agent. This work raises the question of how events in generations past can have consequences at both the mechanistic, behavioral, and ultimately evolutionary levels.

show abstract

Section: Molar Epigeneticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetics and its implications for behavioral neuroendocrinology

Crews

2008

Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology

146

115

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, classic studies by Shire and colleagues in the 1960's and 1970's demonstrated that mammals have measurable quantitative variation of their endocrine systems and that such variation can potentially be the building blocks for behavioral evolution [38]. Also, experiments performed by Belyaev and colleagues on silver foxes demonstrate that behavioral evolution studies are indeed feasible.…”

Section: Rapid Morphological Evolution In Foxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The EDGE hypothesis: Epigenetically directed genetic errors in repeat-containing proteins (RCPs) involved in evolution, neuroendocrine signaling, and cancer

Ruden

Jamison

Zeebèrg

et al. 2008

Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Trans-generational epigenetic phenomena, such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that decrease fertility and the global methylation status of DNA in the offspring, are of great concern because they may affect the health of our children. However, of even greater concern is the possibility that trans-generational changes in the methylation status of the DNA might lead to permanent changes in the DNA sequence itself. By contaminating the environment with EDCs, mankind might be permanently affecting the health of future generations. In this chapter, we present evidence from our laboratory and others that trans-generational epigenetic changes in DNA might lead to mutations directed to genes encoding amino acid repeat-containing proteins (RCPs) that are important for adaptive evolution or cancer progression. Such epigenetic changes can be induced "naturally" by hormones or "unnaturally" by EDCs or environmental stress. To illustrate the phenomenon, we present new bioinformatic evidence that the only RCP ontological categories conserved from Drosophila to humans are "regulation of splicing," "regulation of transcription," and "regulation of synaptogenesis," which are precisely the classes of genes that are important for evolutionary processes. Based on that and other evidence, we propose a model for evolution that we call the EDGE (Epigenetically Directed Genetic Errors) hypothesis for the mechanism by which mutations are targeted at epigenetically-modified "contingency genes" encoding RCPs. In the model, "epigenetic assimilation" of metastable epialleles of RCPs over many generations can lead to mutations directed to those genes, thereby permanently stabilizing the adaptive phenotype.

show abstract

“…Comparative studies, however, are necessarily correlational and historical in nature (Abbott et al 2003;Goymann et al 2004) and cannot reveal the detailed generation-to-generation changes that occur in response to selection. Quantitative-genetic analyses and studies of selection in the wild can reveal the patterns of genetic and phenotypic variation in endocrine components that form the basis for individual variation and covariation as well as the higher-level phenotypes on which natural and sexual selection act in sex-, populationand context-specific ways (Shire 1976;Storz et al 2015;Cox et al 2017;Dantzer et al 2017). Beyond this, various types of phenoytpic engineering, e.g., by manipulating circulating levels of particular hormones, can help to elucidate both functional relations and selective importance (e.g., Ketterson et al 1996;Ketterson et al 2009;Cox et al 2014;Dantzer et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%