Evolvability is a selectable trait.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Earl DJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC511006 | biostudies-other | 2004 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Evolvability is a selectable trait.
Earl David J DJ Deem Michael W MW
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20040802 32
Concomitant with the evolution of biological diversity must have been the evolution of mechanisms that facilitate evolution, because of the essentially infinite complexity of protein sequence space. We describe how evolvability can be an object of Darwinian selection, emphasizing the collective nature of the process. We quantify our theory with computer simulations of protein evolution. These simulations demonstrate that rapid or dramatic environmental change leads to selection for greater evolv ...[more]
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