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The evolutionary genetics of canalization.

Thomas Flatt1

  • 1Division of Biology and Medicine, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Box G-W, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA. THOMAS_FLATT@BROWN.EDU

The Quarterly Review of Biology
|October 28, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Canalization explains how phenotypes remain stable despite genetic and environmental changes. This process stores hidden genetic variation, which can fuel future evolution when revealed by decanalizing events.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary genetics
  • Developmental biology

Background:

  • Phenotypic invariance despite genetic and environmental changes is a long-standing puzzle.
  • Conrad Hal Waddington introduced "canalization" to describe this robustness.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Review advances in understanding canalization since Waddington.
  • Explore the mechanisms and evolutionary implications of canalization.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of canalization research.
  • Conceptual synthesis of genetic and environmental canalization.

Main Results:

  • Canalization maintains phenotypic stability via genetic and environmental buffering.
  • It leads to the accumulation of cryptic genetic variation, increasing evolvability.

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  • Mechanisms include epistasis, pleiotropy, genetic redundancy, and gene network properties.

    • Conclusions:

    • Canalization can both increase evolvability by storing variation and constrain evolution by masking it.
    • Demonstrating canalization and its adaptive value remains challenging.