Mutational robustness can facilitate adaptation
Open accessAbstract
Robustness seems to be the opposite of evolvability. If phenotypes are robust against mutation, we might expect that a population will have difficulty adapting to an environmental change, as several studies have suggested. However, other studies contend that robust organisms are more adaptable. A quantitative understanding of the relationship between robustness and evolvability will help resolve these conflicting reports and will clarify outstanding problems in molecular and experimental evolution, evolutionary developmental biology and protein engineering. Here we demonstrate, using a general population genetics model, that mutational robustness can either impede or facilitate adaptation, depending on the population size, the mutation rate and the structure of the fitness landscape. In particular, neutral diversity in a robust population can accelerate adaptation as long as the number of phenotypes accessible to an individual by mutation is smaller than the total number of phenotypes in the fitness landscape. These results provide a quantitative resolution to a significant ambiguity in evolutionary theory.
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An experimental E. coli culture could evolve the ability to aerobically utilize citrate, or the ability to use the non-natural carbon source 1,2-propanediol; also, a strain deficient in glutathione biosynthesis was able to develop compensatory mutations to restore this function.
“For example, an experimental E. coli culture could evolve the ability to aerobically utilize citrate [37], or the ability to use the non-natural carbon source 1,2-propanediol [71]; also, a strain deficient in glutathione biosynthesis was able to develop compensatory mutations to restore this function [147].”
From Adaptive laboratory evolution—Principles and applications for biotechnology (2013) · cites this paper as [37]
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- Authors
- Draghi, J. A., Parsons, T. L., Wagner, G. P., & Plotkin, J. B.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Plotkin, Joshua B.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2010-01
- Volume
- 463
- Issue
- 7279
- Pages
- 353-355
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- PMC
- PMC3071712
- OpenAlex
- W2012457691
- Cited by
- 336
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 37 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 18.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U54AI057168)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Keywords
- mutational robustness, evolvability, adaptation, fitness landscape, population size, mutation rate, population genetic models, environmental change
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Physiological, Biological Evolution, Genetics, Population, Genotype, Models, Genetic, Mutation, Phenotype, Population Density, Time Factors, Genetic Variation, Mutagenesis, Genetic Fitness
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