Centre Cavailles and IHPST, Ecole normale superieure, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France.
J Biosci. 2009 Oct;34(4):495-501. doi: 10.1007/s12038-009-0068-5.
Phenotypic plasticity has been fashionable in recent years. It has never been absent from the studies of evolutionary biologists, although the availability of stable animal models has limited its role. Although opposed by the reductionist and deterministic approach of molecular biology, phenotypic plasticity has nevertheless recently made its way into this discipline, in particular through the limits of the molecular description. Its resurrection has been triggered by a small group of theoreticians, the rise of epigenetic descriptions and the publicized discovery of stem cell plasticity. The notion of phenotypic plasticity remains vague. History shows that too strong a belief in plasticity can be an obstacle to the development of biology. Two important questions are still pending: the link between the different forms of plasticity present at different levels of organization, and the relation, if any, between the modular organization of organisms and phenotypic plasticity. Future research will help to discriminate between possible and actual mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity, and to give phenotypic plasticity its real place in the living world.
表型可塑性近年来一直很流行。尽管稳定的动物模型的可用性限制了它的作用，但它从未从进化生物学家的研究中消失。尽管受到分子生物学还原论和决定论方法的反对，但表型可塑性最近还是进入了这一学科，特别是通过分子描述的局限性。它的复兴是由一小群理论家引发的，表观遗传描述的兴起和干细胞可塑性的公开发现。表型可塑性的概念仍然很模糊。历史表明，对可塑性的过分相信可能会阻碍生物学的发展。目前仍有两个重要问题悬而未决：不同组织层次上存在的不同形式的可塑性之间的联系，以及生物体模块化组织与表型可塑性之间的关系（如果有的话）。未来的研究将有助于区分表型可塑性的可能机制和实际机制，并在现实世界中为表型可塑性赋予其真正的地位。
