"Invariant traits -- such as having five fingers to a hand instead of four or six -- don't become universal because Nature has somehow selected special genotypes that faithfully direct development of the trait under a wide variety of conditions, the researchers argue. Instead, they show, it is the complexity of our genotypes -- the many genes that interact in networks during development, inhibiting and activating each other and even regulating themselves -- that provides fidelity. Any functional genetic network that is complex enough has this built-in property of fidelity. This is true whether natural selection on the phenotype produced by the network during development is strong, weak or absent."
(adapted from Stanford Report)
(see also Nature's 2009 "15 Evolutionary Gems")
(adapted from Stanford Report)
(see also Nature's 2009 "15 Evolutionary Gems")
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