ABSTRACT
This chapter defines developmental adjustment and distinguish it from natural selection. It describes how developmental adjustment and epigenetic events affect gene expression, or help organisms translate a genotype to a phenotype. A developmental process is one that occurs while an individual organism is growing or maturing. Developmental adjustment refers to a long-term, irreversible change in an organism’s growth or biochemical processes during development that occurs in response to environmental conditions. Some alternate terms for developmental adjustment are ‘developmental adaptation’ and ‘developmental acclimatization.’ Developmental adjustments happen in an individual’s lifetime rather than as a generation-to-generation shift, and they are not directly passed along to any offspring. Height is often subject to developmental adjustment. Genetic expression is regulated when epigenetic events turn genes on or off or amplify or dampen their activity. Beyond directly applied tags, some epigenetic events come into play through RNA, DNA’s self-generated biochemical helpmate.
