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Related Experiment Videos

Phenotypic plasticity can potentiate rapid evolutionary change.

Narayan Behera1, Vidyanand Nanjundiah

  • 1Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore 560004, India.

Journal of Theoretical Biology
|December 4, 2003
PubMed
Summary
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Phenotypic plasticity can accelerate evolution, as shown by a computational model. This study demonstrates how Darwinian selection on regulatory genes explains genetic assimilation, a rapid evolutionary phenomenon observed in fruit flies.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Computational biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to environmental changes.
  • Genetic assimilation, observed by Waddington in Drosophila, describes the rapid evolution of environmentally induced traits into heritable ones.
  • This phenomenon raises questions about evolutionary mechanisms and Lamarckian inheritance.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To computationally verify the conjecture that phenotypic plasticity accelerates evolution.
  • To demonstrate that conventional Darwinian selection can explain genetic assimilation.
  • To model the genetic underpinnings of environmentally induced trait assimilation.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a computational model using string-like haploid genotypes.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Application of a genetic algorithm-based approach.
  • Modeling structural genes with three allelic states: constitutive 'on', constitutive 'off', and plastic.

    • Main Results:

    • The study verifies that phenotypic plasticity can indeed speed up evolutionary processes.
    • The model shows that Darwinian selection acting on regulatory genes sufficiently explains genetic assimilation.
    • The plasticity of structural genes, influenced by regulatory loci, is key to this assimilation process.

    Conclusions:

    • Conventional Darwinian selection provides a sufficient explanation for genetic assimilation.
    • Phenotypic plasticity plays a crucial role in accelerating evolutionary adaptation.
    • The study offers a mechanistic, non-Lamarckian explanation for genetic assimilation.