Discussion on Molecular Causes of Evolvability
An interesting review on “The causes of evolvability and their evolution”, published by Payne and Wanger (2018), is discussed. Three major categories on the research of evolvability are discussed: phenotypic heterogeneity, mutational robustness and adaptive landscape topography:
Phenotypic heterogeneity caused by non-genetic mechanisms are discussed:
Robustness against mutations is allowing phenotypes to tolerate more genetic diversification without any change in final behaviour:
The location of an individual or a population on an adaptive landscape, determine the degree of evolvability towards the highest adaptation:
Causes of evolvability highlighted here — phenotypic heterogeneity, mutational robustness and adaptive landscapes — are themselves subject to evolutionary change:
Leave your comments about molecular causes of evolvability and its impact on the traditional dogma of “Evolution”: