While adaptations to novel environments are thought to extend over evolutionary timescales, a new environment can emerge within a single generation, and can immediately impact the physiological and epigenetic state of the organism. Whether and how this impact might be connected to longer-term establishment of new adaptations are not clear.
We are addressing these questions by studying responses of flies to novel scenarios of stress. We identified epigenetic- and symbiotic-mediated mechanisms which promote increased developmental plasticity under stress, influence the germline, and contribute to non-Mendelian transfer of variation across generations.
I will discuss the microbiome-mediated processes and their potential contribution to the establishment of initial adaptations which may progressively bridge part of the gap between ecology and evolution.
