S31 of ICCPB2011

Organizers:

Vera Maria F. Almeida-Val (INPA – LEEM, Amazonas, Brazil)
Adalberto Luis Val (INPA – LEEM, Amazonas, Brazil)

Adaptations of organisms to long- and short-term environmental changes are one of the basic concepts of evolution. These adaptations involve genetic changes that result in either metabolic/physiological adjustment to short-term changes or in changes at population and species levels. During the evolution, individuals must cope with short- and long-term variations of the same physical parameters, i.e., temperature, pressure, and oxygen. In most cases, functional responses involve adjustments in metabolic processes which depend on the genetic make-up and may, in addition, result in anatomical and morphological variation. Evolutionary changes rely on genetic mutation and selection in the broad sense, but a quantitative assessment of genetic variation alone fails to consider the phenotype range of variation of any given genotype. Thus, these two adaptation processes are interdependent: metabolic adaptation and long-term genetic changes will alter different spectra – the spectrum of selection is altered by physiological changes, and the spectrum of physiological and metabolic patterns will be altered by genetic mutation over evolutionary time. Currently, the interplay between metabolic and genetic adaptation may be the reflection of gene regulation processes: regulatory loci directly respond to specific environmental stimuli by triggering a specific series of “changes” and, in consequence, induce metabolic adjustments during transcriptional phase. Subsequently, other changes in metabolism, which may be post-transcriptional, may take place to induce the fine adjustments that allow for a perfect interaction between organisms and environment. In fact, the discovery of regulation of many genes reconciles the apparent paradox between “unity versus diversity” suggested by Peter W. Hochachka in 1988, in which the relative constancy of chemical structure opposes with genotypic and phenotypic diversity within and between species. The present symposium will bring an up to date view of the importance of gene regulation in the adaptation of living organisms to their environment.

Speakers:

1) Adalberto Luis Val, Sergio Ricardo Nozawa, Vera Maria Fonseca de Almeida-Val (Laboratory of Ecophysiology and Molecular Evolution, INPA, National Institute for Research of the Amazon, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil)
Transcriptomic studies in aquatic organisms of the Amazon: current status

2) J. Eduardo P.W.Bicudo (Department of Physiology,Bioscience Institute, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Physiological acclimatization and phenotypic plasticity in indigenous populations of the Upper Rionegro,Amazon,Brazil

3) David Randall, Carrie Hung (Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong)
Changes in gene expression during hypoxia and starnation in fish

4) Vera Maria Fonseca de Almeida-Vai, Nayara Castro, Daniel Raid, Adalberto Luis Val (Laboratory of Ecophysiology and Molecular Evolution,INPA,National Institute for Research of the Amazon, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil)
Amazon fish LDH as model for studies of temperature adaptations