Developmental evolution and the origins of phenotypic variation

Lickliter, Robert

doi:10.1515/bmc-2014-0019

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…Phenotypic changes that can lead to evolution will be those triggered by a large environmental change beyond the normal reaction norm. Such phenomena as "novelty" (Moczek 2008) or "innovation" (Müller and Newman 2005;Wagner 2012;Lickliter 2014) are concrete examples of extreme phenotypic changes. However, there are few observations of abnormal phenotypic changes that lead to evolution.…”

Section: Two Pathways To Phenotypementioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanism of evolution by genetic assimilation

Nishikawa

Kinjo

2018

Biophys Rev

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Conrad H. Waddington discovered the phenomenon of genetic assimilation through a series of experiments on fruit flies. In those experiments, artificially exerted environmental stress induced plastic phenotypic changes in the fruit flies, but after some generations, the same phenotypic variant started to appear without the environmental stress. Both the initial state (where the phenotypic changes were environmentally induced and plastic) and the final state (where the phenotypic changes were genetically fixed and constitutive) are experimental facts. However, it remains unclear how the environmentally induced phenotypic change in the first generation becomes genetically fixed in the central process of genetic assimilation itself. We have argued that the key to understanding the mechanism of genetic assimilation lies in epigenetics, and proposed the "cooperative model" in which the evolutionary process depends on both genetic and epigenetic factors. Evolutionary simulations based on the cooperative model reproduced the process of genetic assimilation. Detailed analysis of the trajectories has revealed genetic assimilation is a process in which epigenetically induced phenotypic changes are incrementally and statistically replaced with multiple minor genetic mutations through natural selection. In this scenario, epigenetic and genetic changes may be considered as mutually independent but equivalent in terms of their effects on phenotypic changes. This finding rejects the common (and confused) hypothesis that epigenetically induced phenotypic changes depend on genetic mutations. Furthermore, we argue that transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is not required for evolution by genetic assimilation.

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Section: Two Pathways To Phenotypementioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanism of evolution by genetic assimilation

Nishikawa

Kinjo

2018

Biophys Rev

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“…However, this model of heredity is oversimplified in many respects. First, the phenotype is not constructed in its final form (as in 3D printers) but emerges via embryogenesis, which is a self-organizing process regulated by numerous internal and external signals and feedbacks (Lickliter 2014; Sharov 2014). In particular, phenotypes exhibit phenotypic plasticity by which organisms adjust their morphology and functions to the environment.…”

Section: Preservations Of Functional Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Natural Agents: Preservation, Advance, and Emergence of Functional Information

Sharov

2016

Biosemiotics

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Biological evolution is often viewed narrowly as a change of morphology or allele frequency in a sequence of generations. Here I pursue an alternative informational concept of evolution, as preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information in natural agents. Functional information is a network of signs (e.g., memory, transient messengers, and external signs) that are used by agents to preserve and regulate their functions. Functional information is preserved in evolution via complex interplay of copying and construction processes: the digital components are copied, whereas interpreting subagents together with scaffolds, tools, and resources, are constructed. Some of these processes are simple and invariant, whereas others are complex and contextual. Advance of functional information includes improvement and modification of already existing functions. Although the genome information may change passively and randomly, the interpretation is active and guided by the logic of agent behavior and embryonic development. Emergence of new functions is based on the reinterpretation of already existing information, when old tools, resources, and control algorithms are adopted for novel functions. Evolution of functional information progressed from protosemiosis, where signs correspond directly to actions, to eusemiosis, where agents associate signs with objects. Language is the most advanced form of eusemiosis, where the knowledge of objects and models is communicated between agents.

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Developmental evolution

Lickliter

2016

WIRES Cognitive Science

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Biologists and psychologists are re-thinking the long-standing premise of genes as the primary cause of development, a view widely embraced in 20th-century biology. This shift in thinking is based in large part on: (1) the growing appreciation of the complex, distributed regulatory dynamics of gene expression; and (2) the growing appreciation of the probabilistic, contingent, and situated nature of development. We now appreciate that what actually unfolds during individual development represents only one of many possibilities. This expanded focus on the developmental process, often referred to as a developmental systems approach, has far-reaching implications for developmental and evolutionary theory, including new ways of thinking about the consequences of activity and experience, the emergence of novel properties or traits, the nature and extent of heredity, and the origins of phenotypic variability. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1422. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1422 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

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Developmental evolution and the origins of phenotypic variation

Cited by 6 publications

References 59 publications

Mechanism of evolution by genetic assimilation

Mechanism of evolution by genetic assimilation

Evolution of Natural Agents: Preservation, Advance, and Emergence of Functional Information

Developmental evolution

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