Abstract
Little is known about the genetic mechanisms underlying inducible defenses. Recently, the genome of Daphnia pulex, a model organism for defense studies, has been sequenced. Building on the genome information, recent preliminary studies in BMC Developmental Biology and BMC Molecular Biology have assessed gene response profiles in Daphnia under predation pressure. We review the significance of the findings and highlight future research perspectives.See research articles http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/527, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/6/45, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-213X/10/45
Highlights
Little is known about the genetic mechanisms underlying inducible defenses
While permanent defenses evolve under constant predation pressure, inducible defenses are adaptations to heterogeneity in predation risk [1] and likely evolved under divergent selection regimes
A fascinating aspect of the study of inducible defenses is that organisms with the same genotype can display dramatically different phenotypes in response to par ticular environmental factors that are required for activating genes that control the formation of these defenses
Summary
Little is known about the genetic mechanisms underlying inducible defenses. Recently, the genome of Daphnia pulex, a model organism for defense studies, has been sequenced. Finding relevant genes - candidate gene approach An early pioneering study on a Daphnia magna lake clone has demonstrated drastic down-regulation of two proteins involved in basic cytoskeleton reorganization processes, alpha tubulin and actin [7].
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