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Developmental robustness.

Evelyn Fox Keller1

  • 1California Institute of Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pasadena, CA 91125-7700, USA. efkeller@mit.edu

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|January 28, 2003
PubMed
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Developmental robustness ensures organisms develop correctly despite challenges. Evolution favors mechanisms robust to common issues but can be fragile to rare ones, explaining complex biological designs.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary developmental biology
  • Developmental robustness
  • Natural selection

Background:

  • Developmental robustness is crucial for evolution, enabling organisms to develop consistently despite environmental challenges.
  • Reconciling developmental robustness with the precision of biological mechanisms, like irreducible complexity, remains a key question.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore how developmental robustness is achieved and maintained.
  • To investigate the evolutionary trade-offs between robustness and fragility in developmental mechanisms.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis of developmental robustness.
  • Examination of the evolutionary pressures shaping developmental mechanisms.
  • Case study on the absence of reaction-diffusion mechanisms in development.

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Main Results:

  • Developmental mechanisms are selectively robust to common environmental insults but can be fragile to rare ones.
  • Reaction-diffusion mechanisms, while theoretically appealing, are evolutionarily disfavored due to insufficient protection against likely developmental challenges.
  • Intricate mechanisms, protected by structural design, have been favored over simpler, less robust alternatives.

Conclusions:

  • Context-dependent robustness is a key principle in evolutionary developmental biology.
  • Evolutionary selection favors developmental mechanisms that balance robustness against common threats with adaptability to rare events.
  • The observed complexity in developmental mechanisms reflects an evolutionary strategy prioritizing protection against prevalent challenges.