Gene duplications, robustness and evolutionary innovations.

Full Abstract

Mutational robustness facilitates evolutionary innovations. Gene duplications are unique kinds of mutations, in that they generally increase such robustness. The frequent association of gene duplications in regulatory networks with evolutionary innovation is thus a special case of a general mechanism linking innovation to robustness. The potential power of this mechanism to promote evolutionary innovations on large time scales is illustrated here with several examples. These include the role of gene duplications in the vertebrate radiation, flowering plant evolution and heart development, which encompass some of the most striking innovations in the evolution of life.

Author information

Author/s: Wagner, Andreas (A);

Affiliation: University of Zurich, Department of Biochemistry, Bldg Y27, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland. aw(-atsign-)bioc.uzh.ch

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology (Bioessays), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Apr; vol 30 (issue 4) : pp 367-73

Dates: Created 2008/03/24; Completed 2008/05/23; Revised 2008/11/21;

PMID: 18348184, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.