PERSPECTIVE:EVOLUTION AND DETECTION OF GENETIC ROBUSTNESS

Robustness is the invariance of phenotypes in the face of perturbation. The robustness of phenotypes appears at various levels of biological organization, including gene expression, protein folding, metabolic flux, physiological homeostasis, development, and even organismal fitness. The mechanisms u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution 2003-09, Vol.57 (9), p.1959-1972
Main Authors: de Visser, J. Arjan G M, Hermisson, Joachim, Wagner, Günter P, Meyers, Lauren Ancel, Bagheri-Chaichian, Homayoun, Blanchard, Jeffrey L, Chao, Lin, Cheverud, James M, Elena, Santiago F, Fontana, Walter, Gibson, Greg, Hansen, Thomas F, Krakauer, David, Lewontin, Richard C, Ofria, Charles, Rice, Sean H, von Dassow, George, Wagner, Andreas, Whitlock, Michael C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Biological
Biological Evolution
Canalization
deleterious mutations
developmental stability
dominance
drosophila-melanogaster
Ecological competition
Environment
environmental robustness
Epistasis
Epistasis, Genetic
Evolution
Evolutionary genetics
evolvability
fitness components
Genetic diversity
Genetic mutation
Genetic research
genetic robustness
Genetic variation
Genotype & phenotype
heat-shock
Molecular genetics
Mutation
Phenotype
Phenotypes
Phenotypic traits
plasticity
Population Density
Population genetics
REGULAR ARTICLES
Reproduction - physiology
selection
Selection, Genetic
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Summary:Robustness is the invariance of phenotypes in the face of perturbation. The robustness of phenotypes appears at various levels of biological organization, including gene expression, protein folding, metabolic flux, physiological homeostasis, development, and even organismal fitness. The mechanisms underlying robustness are diverse, ranging from thermodynamic stability at the RNA and protein level to behavior at the organismal level. Phenotypes can be robust either against heritable perturbations (e.g., mutations) or nonheritable perturbations (e.g., the weather). Here we primarily focus on the first kind of robustness—genetic robustness—and survey three growing avenues of research: (1) measuring genetic robustness in nature and in the laboratory; (2) understanding the evolution of genetic robustness; and (3) exploring the implications of genetic robustness for future evolution.
ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
DOI:10.1554/02-750R