| | |  | | | | Record from Web of Science® | | | | | | |
| Robustness, evolvability, and neutrality |
|
|
| Author(s): Wagner A |
| Source: FEBS LETTERS Volume: 579 Issue: 8 Special Issue: Sp. Iss. SI Pages: 1772-1778 Published: MAR 21 2005 |
| Times Cited: 56 References: 58 |
| Abstract: Biological systems, from macromolecules to whole organisms, are robust if they continue to function, survive, or reproduce when faced with mutations, environmental change, and internal noise. I focus here on biological systems that are robust to mutations and ask whether such systems are more or less evolvable, in the sense that they can acquire novel properties. The more robust a system is, the more mutations in it are neutral, that is, without phenotypic effect. I argue here that such neutral change - and thus robustness - can be a key to future evolutionary innovation, if one accepts that neutrality is not an essential feature of a mutation. That is, a once neutral mutation may cause phenotypic effects in a changed environment or genetic background. I argue that most, if not all, neutral mutations are of this sort, and that the essentialist notion of neutrality should be abandoned. This perspective reconciles two opposing views on the forces dominating organismal evolution, natural selection and random drift: neutral mutations occur and are especially abundant in robust systems, but they do not remain neutral indefinitely, and eventually become visible to natural selection, where some of them lead to evolutionary innovations. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies. |
| Document Type: Article |
| Language: English |
| Reprint Address: Wagner, A (reprint author), Univ New Mexico, Dept Biol, 167 Castetter Hall, Albuquerque, NM 87131 USA |
Addresses:
1. Univ New Mexico, Dept Biol, Albuquerque, NM 87131 USA |
| Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, PO BOX 211, 1000 AE AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS |
| Subject Category: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Biophysics; Cell Biology |
| IDS Number: 906QT |
| ISSN: 0014-5793 |
| DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2005.01.063 |
|
| | | | | | | | | Record from Web of Science® | | | | | | | | | |