Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Komarova NL
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3512085 | biostudies-other | 2012
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Scientific reports 20121203
Complex traits can require the accumulation of multiple mutations that are individually deleterious. Their evolution requires a fitness valley to be crossed, which can take relatively long time spans. A new evolutionary mechanism is described that accelerates the emergence of complex phenotypes, based on a "division of labor" game and the occurrence of cheaters. If each intermediate mutation leads to a product that can be shared with others, the complex type can arise relatively quickly as an em ...[more]