Fangqi Xu

Xu F.Q., 2024, Gene-environment interactions in amphipods: implications for evolution and conservation, International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 14(6): 266-274 (doi: 10.5376/ijmec.2024.14.0029)
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2024, Vol. 14, No. 6   
Received: 11 Oct., 2024    Accepted: 20 Nov., 2024    Published: 15 Dec., 2024

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Gammarus gammarus is widely distributed in freshwater, brackish water and coastal ecosystems and is an important model group for studying the adaptive evolution of organisms. Gene-environment interaction (G×E) is of key significance in the evolution and ecological protection of gammarus. This study summarizes the adaptive patterns of gammarus populations in different ecological environments and explores the latest progress of G×E research in revealing the ecological adaptation and evolution mechanisms of gammarus. The study found that the gene expression responses of gammarus to environmental stresses such as temperature, salinity and pollutants are significantly environmentally specific, and genomics and epigenetic mechanisms play a core role in the adaptive evolution of gammarus. Typical cases show that the response of freshwater gammarus populations to temperature gradients, the salt tolerance mechanism of marine gammarus, and the adaptive evolution under pollution stress all show obvious G×E patterns. Future research should focus on solving the technical bottlenecks of G×E research, strengthening multidisciplinary cross-integration and long-term ecological monitoring, so as to achieve the goal of protecting gammarus populations and managing ecosystem health. G×E research on gammarus not only deepens the understanding of adaptive evolution theory, but also provides important methods and data support for species risk assessment, ecological monitoring and ecological restoration.

Gammarus; Gene-environment interaction; Adaptive evolution; Ecological protection; Genomics