Host defense alteration in Caenorhabditis elegans after evolution under ionizing radiation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adaptation to a stressor can lead to costs on other traits. These costs play an unavoidable role on fitness and influence the evolutionary trajectory of a population. Host defense seems highly subject to these costs, possibly because its maintenance is energetically costly but essential to the survival. When assessing the ecological risk related to pollution, it is therefore relevant to consider these costs to evaluate the evolutionary consequences of stressors on populations. However, to the best of our knowledge, the effects of evolution in irradiate environment on host defense have never been studied. Using an experimental evolution approach, we analyzed fitness across 20 transfers (about 20 generations) in Caenorhabditis elegans populations exposed to 0, 1.4, and 50.

SUBMITTER: Quevarec L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11234525 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature