Humans are altering the environment at an unprecedented rate. Although behavioural plasticity has allowed many species to respond by shifting their ranges to more favourable conditions, these rapid environmental changes may cause 'evolutionary traps', whereby animals mistakenly prefer resources that reduce their fitness. The role of evolutionary traps in influencing the fitness consequences of ...

Prenatal stress (PS) has complex neurological, behavioural and physiological consequences for the developing offspring. The phenotype linked to PS usually lasts into adulthood and may even propagate to subsequent generations. The often uncontrollable exposure to maternal stress and the lasting consequences emphasize the urgent need for treatment strategies that effectively reverse stress progra...

Cellular plasticity during cancer metastasis is a major clinical challenge. Two key cellular plasticity mechanisms -Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and Mesenchymal-to-Amoeboid Transition (MAT) - have been carefully investigated individually, yet a comprehensive understanding of their interconnections remains elusive. Previously, we have modeled the dynamics of the core regulatory cir...

Developmental plasticity describes situations where a specific input during an individual's development produces a lasting alteration in phenotype. Some instances of developmental plasticity may be adaptive, meaning that the tendency to produce the phenotype conditional on having experienced the developmental input has been under positive selection. We discuss the necessary assumptions and pred...

Vascular endothelium is a dynamic cellular interface that displays a unique phenotypic plasticity. This plasticity is critical for vascular function and when dysregulated is pathogenic in several diseases. Human genotype-phenotype studies of endothelium are limited by the unavailability of patient-specific endothelial cells. To establish a cellular platform for studying endothelial biology, we ...

Abstract Aims Soil compaction is a major yield-reducing factor worldwide and imposes physico-chemical constraints to plant growth development. Facing limitations, roots can adapt compensate for loss of functioning through their plasticity. Being primarily belowground challenge, tolerance soil needs be associated with root phenotype It therefore importance distinguish between size-related appare...

Understanding constraints to phenotypic plasticity is key given its role on the response of organisms environmental change. It has been suggested that integration, structure trait covariation, could limit plasticity. However, relationship between and integration far from resolved. Using a database functional drought Mediterranean shrub included 20 ecophysiological traits, we assessed environmen...

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an essential and reversible embryonic phenomenon that produces motile cells from polarized epithelia via epigenetic reprogramming, allows for a switch between invasive, proliferative, drug-resistant phenotypes in carcinomas, associated with higher risk of metastasis worse prognosis. This has been observed non-epithelial cancers, as well, includi...

Many organisms can adjust their phenotypes to match local environmental conditions via shifts in developmental trajectories, rather than relying on changes in gene frequencies wrought by natural selection. Adaptive developmental plasticity confers obvious benefits in terms of rapid response and higher mean fitness, so why is it not more common? Plausibly, adaptive plasticity also confers a cost...

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant progressive and fatal neurodegenerative brain disorder caused by an expanded CAG/polyglutamine repeat in the coding region of the gene. Presymptomatic Huntington's disease patients often exhibit cognitive deficits before the onset of classical symptoms. To investigate the possibility that changes in synaptic plasticity might underlie cognitive ...