Assessing the impact of control and prevention strategies on zoonotic diseases in human populations requires the use of formal modelling frameworks, integrating animal, environmental and human data. However, such quantitative “One Health” approaches to guide public health interventions are, to date, overlooked. Their implementation could be facilitated by improved access to epidemiological, demographic, and contact data on different hosts, by improved training of epidemiologists and modellers through relevant multidisciplinary research career paths, and finally by improving institutional support for better visibility.
EvoDevo called homeotic genes "architect genes" because they "control" "body plans". The first metaphor involves purposefulness and brings finalism; the second one is cybernetic; the third one is idealistic/platonic. These are three ways of thinking that are incompatible with today's evolutionary theory. Using such ordering causal factors, EvoDevo partly stayed outside biology-and evolution as well-because in biology, order is not causal: it is a consequence that we need to explain. Natural selection is one of the concepts explaining the rise of apparent short-term biological order, or regularities. We no longer need the verb "to control" [Nijhout, Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol., 169-170 (2022)]. Since genes are controlled [Noble, Interface Focus, 7 (2017)], just as much as they control, the notion of control in this context is not appropriate. It would be better to speak of "contribution". Natural selection and descent with modification, the two pillars of the Darwinian approach to life [Gayon, C. R. Palevol, 8 (2009)], are entering the soma. They are not restricted to the functioning of the adult soma, but also to the entire developing soma, avoiding "adultocentrism" [Minelli, Toward a Theory of Development (2014)]. The first pillar, natural selection within the body, anticipated by [Roux, Der Kampf der Teile im Organismus: Ein Beitrag zur Vervollständigung der Mechanischen Zweckmässigkeitslehre (1881); Roux, La lutte des parties dans l'organisme (2013)], but occulted during the past century [Heams, La lutte des parties dans l'organisme (2013b)], is now helping to explain cancer dynamics, aging, neurogenesis, etc. With the second pillar, it is now possible to construct the phylogeny of cells of a single developing organism, or to perform a phylogenetic analysis of metastases from a single patient. Ontogenesis and phylogenesis are no more two distinct processes: natural selection and descent with modification both contribute to explain both the developing individual and its stability, as well as the regularity of individuals of a same population from which we name species. The two pillars of evolutionary theory-descent with modification and natural selection-do occur within the developing organism itself and the resulting phenomenon is ontophylogenesis [Kupiec, L'ontophylogenèse. Évolution des espèces et développement de l'individu (2012)], which is actually studied by EvoDevo.
For decades, discussions about the evolution of species overlooked microorganisms. Over a century ago, Neisser and Massini isolated a coliform bacterium that appeared to acquire mutations adapting it to its environment, naming it Bacterium coli mutabile to reflect this feature. With the advent of molecular biology, these widely debated experiments were subsequently forgotten. Here, we present the history of an experiment that reproduces their observations in a modern context where it has become possible to identify the nature of these mutations down to the nucleotide level. Its findings demonstrate that the transcription of gene families that ensure the long-term maintenance of the metabolism of ageing cells is a direct source of adaptive mutations: this process enables bacteria to identify previously unexploited environmental factors that can now support growth. We propose that the driving force behind this adaptation is the spontaneous dehydration/deamidation of polypeptide chains, which dictates an intrinsic lifespan for every protein. This universal mechanism of inevitable protein ageing necessitates their re-synthesis to maintain their function; however the transcription process, which involves opening the DNA double helix, is locally mutagenic. Thus, as bacteria age, the continuous re-synthesis of some of the proteins that perform the functions enabling survival triggers a local mutagenic process. This yields genetic variants, some of which may be beneficial and are therefore retained.
Adaptation is a polysemous word referring both to the state of being adapted and to the selection processes leading to this state. However, considering population adaptation only as an ultimate achievement in a static rather than dynamic perspective may lead to a double misperception: (i) that all adapted populations have depleted variation of adaptive traits and, therefore, low evolvability, and (ii) that adaptation systematically requires many generations. This static vision of adaptation as an achievement is particularly inappropriate for long-lived organisms like trees that continuously respond to selection and retain high levels of adaptive trait variation. This review proposes a baseline for a process-based approach of adaptation in trees, shedding new light on current challenges for forest management and forest genetic resources conservation in the context of global change.A first general section uses the genes-traits-fitness mapping framework to explore the effect of selection on different types of traits, depending on their links to other traits and fitness. In a second section, trait variation and coordination patterns observed in forest trees are interpreted in terms of biological constraints and response to selection. A third section investigates, for trees, how the genes-traits-fitness map varies in space and time with environmental conditions and developmental stages, resulting in spatiotemporal variability of selection. A fourth section reviews the impacts of forestry interventions on trait variation and selection. The conclusive section illustrates the integration of selection as a dynamic and partly manageable process in management thinking for forest genetic resource sustainable use and conservation.
L’augmentation de la concentration atmosphérique de CO 2 et des températures ainsi que la modification des régimes hydriques constituent des déterminants majeurs du fonctionnement et de la productivité des agroécosystèmes. Si les effets de chacun de ces facteurs ont été largement étudiés individuellement, leur action conjointe reste encore mal comprise, alors même que ces facteurs interagissent étroitement dans les conditions climatiques futures. Cet article propose une synthèse des connaissances actuelles sur les impacts combinés de l’élévation de CO 2 , des températures et du déficit hydrique sur les plantes cultivées, avec un accent particulier sur le blé. Après un état des lieux des dispositifs expérimentaux mobilisés pour étudier ces interactions, nous analysons les réponses écophysiologiques et agronomiques des plantes à différentes combinaisons de facteurs climatiques, en distinguant les effets propres, les interactions et les mécanismes de compensation. Les résultats issus de synthèses et méta-analyses récentes mettent en évidence une forte variabilité des réponses, dépendante des espèces, des génotypes, des stades phénologiques et des modalités expérimentales. Les résultats expérimentaux, tous dispositifs confondus, montrent notamment que l’effet fertilisant du CO 2 ne compense pas de manière générale les impacts négatifs des stress hydriques et thermiques, en particulier lorsque ceux-ci sont combinés. Enfin, l’article discute des implications de ces résultats pour la modélisation des cultures et l’anticipation des trajectoires de productivité des agroécosystèmes dans un contexte de changement climatique, en soulignant la nécessité d’intégrer explicitement les interactions entre facteurs climatiques, processus biologiques et variabilité génétique.
