Robustness: mechanisms and consequences

By Joanna Masel, M. Siegal. 2009

341 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Biological systems are robust to perturbation by mutations and environmental fluctuations. New data are shedding light on the biochemical and network-level mechanisms responsible for robustness. Robustness to mutation might have evolved as an adaptation to reduce the effect of mutations, as a congruent byproduct of adaptive robustness to environmental variation, or as an intrinsic property of biological systems selected for their primary functions. Whatever its mechanism or origin, robustness to mutation results in the accumulation of phenotypically cryptic genetic variation. Partial robustness can lead to pre-adaptation, and thereby might contribute to evolvability. The identification and characterization of phenotypic capacitors — which act as switches of the degree of robustness — are critical to understanding the mechanisms and consequences of robustness.

Subfields: Genetics, Molecular Biology

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Genetics

1. Eugene V. Koonin
2. Daniel H. Geschwind
3. Michael Jeffrey Gandal
4. Neelroop Parikshak
5. Jens Nielsen
6. Joanna Masel
7. Meredith V. Trotter

In Molecular Biology

1. Eugene V. Koonin
2. Michael Jeffrey Gandal
3. Neelroop Parikshak
4. Daniel H. Geschwind
5. Adil Mardinoglu
6. Jens Nielsen
7. Avlant Nilsson
8. Eduard J. Kerkhoven

Citations in the corpus

• Evolvability as a function of purifying selection in TEM-1 β-lactamase. (2015, neutral): “Because processes that buffer the effects of genetic variation inevitably have consequences for evolutionary outcomes, an understanding of both the causes and consequences of robustness is of central importance to biology (de Visser et al., 2003; Masel and Siegal, 2009; Wagner, 2005a).”
• An atlas of human metabolism (2020, background): “The general robustness of cells toward perturbations such as single-gene knockouts (46) yields a much smaller number of essential genes than nonessential genes, resulting in highly imbalanced group sizes.”
• The Logic of Chance: The Nature and Origin of Biological Evolution (2011, background): “Certain proteins, the best characterized of which is the molecular chaperone HSP90 (HSP is the generic acronym for Heat Shock Protein, a protein induced by high-temperature stress), possess the properties of evolutionary capacitors, or mediators of the effects of genetic and phenotypic variation (Ma”
• Systems biology and gene networks in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders (2015, methodology): “We frame this issue using the concept of developmental canali-zation 88 , whereby natural selection on developmental programmes in humans has led to robustness in a range of genetic or environmental perturbations 89,90 : typical development occurs along a ‘track’ (FIG.”
• Robustness and Evolvability (2010, background): “have evolved as a byproduct of selection for robustness to environmental perturbations) or they might be an intrinsic consequence of genetic and physiological constraints [80,81].”
• Possible genetic and epigenetic links between human inner speech, schizophrenia and altruism. (2012, neutral): “Dawkins (1989) proposed a theory known as ‘subversion from within’; see also Maynard Smith's rebuttal of the kin selection theory (Maynard Smith, 1964).”