News Finding: Dr Malenke says: "For N. bryanti but not for N. lepida, there appears to be a hidden strategy of maintaining expression of exactly the right combination of enzymes to suit the animal's 'normal' diet and not altering that expression, even with a change in diet.
Paper Finding: Major evolutionary dietary shifts seem to be enabled by an underlying change in biotransformation enzymes .
News Context: They exhibited signs of severe stress, showing that because they hadn't been exposed to the diet, the genes to detoxify it hadn't been switched on. Dr Malenke says: "For N. bryanti but not for N. lepida, there appears to be a hidden strategy of maintaining expression of exactly the right combination of enzymes to suit the animal's 'normal' diet and not altering that expression, even with a change in diet. Although very efficient, this strategy might be a disadvantage, say, in the face of a climate change event."
Paper Context: The response of the naïve woodrat population to creosote bush was indicative of extreme physiological stress. Major evolutionary dietary shifts seem to be enabled by an underlying change in biotransformation enzymes . Surprisingly few alterations among myriad biotransformation enzymes are required for a change in the capacity to metabolize a new toxin.