Genome-scale assessment of phenotypic changes during adaptive evolution

Abstract

Adaptive evolution is a process that influences and alters all biological organisms over time. Changes involved in adaptive evolution begin with genetic mutations and can lead to large changes in phenotypic behavior. Thus, the relationship between genotype and phenotype is a central issue in studying adaptive evolution. The whole-cell phenotype of an organism is the result of integrated functions at various levels of cellular organization. As methods have been developed and improved to study the components involved with the different levels of cellular organization in a high-throughput and genome-wide scale, it is becoming possible to establish the link between genotype and phenotype. In this chapter, different means of studying and establishing connections between genotype and phenotype in the context of adaptive evolution will be discussed. © 2007 Humana Press Inc.