The natural environment is transforming faster due to ongoing climate change. This creates new conditions
In the long term, organisms will need toadapt genetically to these rapid environmental changes: otherwise, they may die out. This adaptation can occur through mutations that cause changes in the genome that are beneficial in new conditions. But very often mutations have negative consequences for the person who carries them.
David Berger, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University
The new study combined theoretical models of protein function with experimental results comparing the effects of mutations in different life forms in a variety of habitats.
Researchers experimented on beetles,which new mutations had already appeared, and also analyzed the results of previous similar studies: for example, with yeast, bacteria and viruses, or with multicellular organisms, where they studied roundworms and cross lettuce. By combining all this information, the researchers were able to figure out how organisms lived in different environments before and after the appearance of mutations.
First of all, the goal was tofind out if environmental conditions cause all kinds of harmful effects of mutations. They manipulated the temperature to find out at what level it could hypothetically happen.
The study shows that if the temperature rises by 2–4 °C, the harmful effects of new mutations in tropical species will double.
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