molecular adaptation

Dalziel AC, Rogers SM & Schulte PM 2009 Linking genotypes to phenotypes and fitness: how mechanistic biology can inform molecular ecology. Mol Ecol, in press.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04427.x

• once candidate genes are identified, we argue that it is necessary to take a mechanistic approach and work up through the levels of biological organization to fully understand the impacts of genetic variation at these candidate genes

• we define a mechanistic perspective as one that incorporates a priori knowledge about the function of genes, proteins, biochemical networks and pathways, and their resulting effects on phenotypic traits, whole-organism performance and fitness

• changes in several different genes within a network could result in similar changes in ecologically relevant phenotypes
• alternatively, specific genes within a network may be repeatedly targeted by evolution in multiple taxa because of their role and location in the network