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Quantitative system drift.

Carl Veller1,2, Pavitra Muralidhar1,2

  • 1Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|March 20, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Biological systems with stabilizing selection allow individual component contributions to drift, even if the overall trait value remains optimal. This "system drift" is slower based on genetic variance contribution.

Keywords:
coevolutiongenetic driftspeciationstabilizing selectionsystem drift

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Area of Science:

  • Population genetics
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Quantitative genetics

Background:

  • Biological systems comprise multiple genetically variable components.
  • These components collectively influence a quantitative trait.
  • Stabilizing selection acts on the trait to maintain an optimal value.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To mathematically investigate the evolutionary dynamics of individual components within a multi-component biological system under stabilizing selection.
  • To provide a population-genetic framework for understanding "system drift."
  • To explore the broad implications of system drift in various biological contexts.

Main Methods:

  • Mathematical modeling of a multi-component biological system.
  • Analysis of genetic drift and mutation dynamics within components.
  • Application of population genetics principles.

Main Results:

  • The mean contribution of individual components can drift significantly from initial values, despite the system's mean value being constrained to an optimum.
  • Component drift is qualitatively similar to neutral drift but is modulated by the component's contribution to the system's genetic variance.
  • Symmetric mutation imposes a weak long-term constraint on component drift.

Conclusions:

  • System drift provides a population-genetic explanation for how individual parts of a biological system can evolve independently while the whole remains under selection.
  • The findings have broad applicability, including the evolution of gene expression, hybrid incompatibilities, sex determination systems, and mutualistic relationships.