Facilitated variation: how evolution learns from past environments to generalize to new environments.

ABSTRACT: One of the striking features of evolution is the appearance of novel structures in organisms. Recently, Kirschner and Gerhart have integrated discoveries in evolution, genetics, and developmental biology to form a theory of facilitated variation (FV). The key observation is that organisms are designed such that random genetic changes are channeled in phenotypic directions that are potentially useful. An open question is how FV spontaneously emerges during evolution. Here, we address this by means of computer simulations of two well-studied model systems, logic circuits and RNA secondary structure. We find that evolution of FV is enhanced in environments that change from time to time in a systematic way: the varying environments are made of the same set of subgoals but in different combinat

SUBMITTER: Parter M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2563028 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature