Work

Mutational Robustness and Evolvability

Year: 2023

Type: book-chapter

Abstract: Organisms are to some extent robust to DNA mutations: Their phenotypes do not change in the face of some DNA mutations that affect the gene(s) encoding these phenotypes.Robustness can facilitate evolvability-the ability of a biological system to produce phenotype variation that is both heritable and adaptive.Here I first introduce some concepts that are necessary to understand why robustness can entail evolvability.I then discuss empirical evidence that speaks to the relationship between robustness and evolvability, focusing on systems where the molecular foundations of both robustness and evolvability can be studied in detail.Fi nally, I discuss empirical evidence that robustness can itself evolve, and that evolvability mediated by robustness can itself be subject to adaptive evolution.

Source: The MIT Press eBooks

DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/14126.003.0013

Author: Andreas Wagner

Language: English

Topic: Evolution and Genetic Dynamics

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: National Science Foundation, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

Awards: G1835917608, G3215241047, Robustness and weakened selection in the adaptive evolution of fluorescent proteins

OpenAlex ID: W4382204345