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Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Resurrection of Dormant Daphnia magna: Protocol and Applications
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Development and selective grain make plasticity 'take the lead' in adaptive evolution.

Miguel Brun-Usan1,2, Alfredo Rago3,4, Christoph Thies3

  • 1Institute for Life Sciences/Electronics and Computer Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. m.brunusan@gmail.com.

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Summary

Biological evolution

Keywords:
AdaptationGenotype-phenotype-mapMechanistic developmental modelsParental effectsPhenotypic plasticityPlasticity-led evolution

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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.