Johnston T D, Gottlieb G
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 27412-5001.
J Theor Biol. 1990 Dec 21;147(4):471-95. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5193(05)80260-7.
An important task for evolutionary biology is to explain how phenotypes change over evolutionary time. Neo-Darwinian theory explains phenotypic change as the outcome of genetic change brought about by natural selection. In the neo-Darwinian account, genetic change is primary; phenotypic change is a secondary outcome that is often given no explicit consideration at all. In this article, we introduce the concept of neophenogenesis: a persistent, transgenerational change in phenotypes over evolutionary time. A theory of neophenogenesis must encompass all sources of such phenotypic change, not just genetic ones. Both genetic and extra-genetic contributions to neophenogenesis have their effect through the mechanisms of development, and developmental considerations, particularly a rejection of the commonly held distinction between inherited and acquired traits, occupy a central place in neophenogenetic theory. New phenotypes arise because of a change in the patterns of organism-environment interaction that produce development in members of a population. So long as these new patterns of developmental interaction persist, the new phenotype(s) will also persist. Although the developmental mechanisms that produce the novel phenotype may change, as in the process known as "genetic assimilation", such changes are not necessary in order for neophenogenesis to occur, because neophenogenetic theory is a theory of phenotypic, not genetic, change.
进化生物学的一项重要任务是解释表型如何随进化时间而变化。新达尔文主义理论将表型变化解释为自然选择所带来的基因变化的结果。在新达尔文主义的解释中，基因变化是首要的；表型变化是次要结果，往往根本没有得到明确的考虑。在本文中，我们引入新表型发生的概念：表型在进化时间内持续的、跨代的变化。新表型发生理论必须涵盖这种表型变化的所有来源，而不仅仅是基因方面的。基因和非基因对新表型发生的贡献都是通过发育机制起作用的，而且发育方面的考虑，特别是对遗传性状和获得性状之间普遍存在的区别的摒弃，在新表型发生理论中占据核心地位。新表型的出现是由于种群成员中产生发育的生物体与环境相互作用模式发生了变化。只要这些新的发育相互作用模式持续存在，新表型也将持续存在。尽管产生新表型的发育机制可能会发生变化，比如在“遗传同化”过程中，但这种变化对于新表型发生的出现并非必要，因为新表型发生理论是一种关于表型而非基因变化的理论。
