Agner Fog <----Remove-to-reply----Agner at login.dknet.dk> wrote in article
<6db26a$5ri at net.bio.net>...
>....
> Is there any evidence that any organisms 'actively' increase their
mutation
> rate under adverse conditions? By 'actively' I mean a specific evolved
> mechanism for regulating mutation rate, as opposed to haphazard
mechanisms such
> as the organism having less resources for DNA repair when starving.
>> I haven't found any such evidence in the litterature. If it exists then
please
> point to the reference.
>>====-------------------------agner at login.dknet.dk-------------------------==
==
> Agner Fog, Ph.D. See my electronic book: 'Cultural
Selection'
> Denmark at: http://announce.com/agner/cultsel>>
I believe that Barbara Mclintock's work in maize showed an activation of
transposable elements in response to environmental stress. I am not
entriely familiar with this work and it may be, as you say a haphazard
mechanism due to a lack of control resources.
Andrew Maillet
University of Massachusetts Medical Center
Worcester Massachusetts 01655
