Adaptive responses to environmental chemicals.
Adaption to chemical agents in the environment is a fundamental part of the evolutionary process and a large number of genes have evolved to specifically detoxify potentially harmful chemical agents. These genes can act at various levels within cells and determine circulating chemical or toxin concentrations, and uptake and efflux rates as well as intracellular detoxification enzymes, such as the cytochrome P-450-dependent mono-oxygenases and glutathione S-transferases. These multigene families of proteins play a central role in chemical and drug detoxification and their polymorphic expression may well be a factor in disease susceptibility.
Wolf
C R
CR
Imperial Cancer Research Fund Molecular Pharmacology Unit, Biomedical Research Centre, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, U.K.
Smith
G
G
Smith
A G
AG
Brown
K
K
Henderson
C J
CJ
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; D005982:Glutathione Transferase