Moczek Armin P
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Evol Dev. 2007 May-Jun;9(3):299-305. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-142X.2007.00162.x.
The concept of genetic accommodation remains controversial, in part because it remains unclear whether evolution by genetic accommodation forces a revolution, or merely a shift in emphasis, in our understanding of how evolution produces adaptive new traits. Here I outline a perspective that largely favors the latter view. I argue that evolution by genetic accommodation can easily be integrated into traditional evolutionary concepts. At the same time, evolution by genetic accommodation invites novel empirical and theoretical approaches that may allow biologists to push the boundaries of our current understanding of the process of evolution and to solve some long-standing controversies. Specifically, I discuss the role of developmental mechanisms as natural, and likely ubiquitous, capacitors of cryptic genetic variation, and the role of environmental perturbations as mechanisms by which such variation can become visible to selection on an individual to population-wide scale. I argue that in combination, developmental capacitance and large-scale environmental perturbations have the potential to facilitate rapid evolution including the origin of novel adaptive features while circumventing otherwise powerful genetic and population-biological constraints on adaptive evolution. I end by highlighting several promising avenues for future empirical research to explore the mechanisms and significance of evolution by genetic accommodation.
基因调适的概念仍然存在争议，部分原因在于，我们尚不清楚通过基因调适进行的进化，是迫使我们对进化如何产生适应性新特征的理解发生一场革命，还是仅仅是重点的转移。在此，我概述一种在很大程度上支持后一种观点的视角。我认为，通过基因调适进行的进化能够轻松地融入传统进化概念之中。与此同时，通过基因调适进行的进化催生了新颖的实证和理论方法，这些方法或许能让生物学家拓展我们目前对进化过程的理解边界，并解决一些长期存在的争议。具体而言，我将讨论发育机制作为隐秘遗传变异的天然且可能普遍存在的“电容器”的作用，以及环境扰动作为使此类变异在个体到种群尺度上能够被选择“看见”的机制的作用。我认为，发育电容和大规模环境扰动相结合，有潜力促进快速进化，包括新适应性特征的起源，同时规避原本对适应性进化具有强大作用的遗传和种群生物学限制。最后，我着重介绍了几个未来实证研究的有前景的方向，以探索通过基因调适进行的进化的机制和意义。
