Development and selective grain make plasticity 'take the lead' in adaptive evolution

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Developmental biology
• Genetics

Background:

• Biological evolution adapts organisms via genetic variation and natural selection.
• The origin of genetic evolvability, the capacity to evolve, is not fully explained.
• Adaptive phenotypic plasticity is suggested to accelerate genetic evolution, but its own origin requires explanation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interplay between phenotypic plasticity and genetic evolvability.
• To understand how developmental systems generate and constrain phenotypic variation.
• To explore the reciprocal evolutionary relationship between plasticity and evolvability.

Main Methods:

• Simulating the evolution of phenotypes using gene-regulation network models.
• Analyzing phenotypic variation resulting from genetic and environmental perturbations.
• Investigating the evolutionary dynamics of selection for genetic evolvability and adaptive plasticity.

Main Results:

• Phenotypic variation from genetic and environmental causes is highly concordant due to developmental constraints.
• Selection for genetic evolvability drives the evolution of adaptive plasticity, and vice versa.
• Selection for phenotypic plasticity effectively promotes the evolution of high genetic evolvability, with substantial short-term gains.

Conclusions:

• Past selection for plasticity can significantly impact genetic evolvability.
• Plasticity influences the trajectory of adaptive evolution.
• This study elucidates how plasticity can be a key driver in the evolution of evolvability.