Department of Biology, Duke University 130 Science Dr., Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
Bioessays. 2018 Jan;40(1). doi: 10.1002/bies.201600265. Epub 2017 Nov 27.
The question of whether the modern evolutionary synthesis requires an extension has recently become a topic of discussion, and a source of controversy. We suggest that this debate is, for the most part, not about the modern synthesis at all. Rather, it is about the extent to which genetic mechanisms can be regarded as the primary determinants of phenotypic characters. The modern synthesis has been associated with the idea that phenotypes are the result of gene products, while supporters of the extended synthesis have suggested that environmental factors, along with processes such as epigenetic inheritance, and niche construction play an important role in character formation. We argue that the methodology of the modern evolutionary synthesis has been enormously successful, but does not provide an accurate characterization of the origin of phenotypes. For its part, the extended synthesis has yet to be transformed into a testable theory, and accordingly, has yielded few results. We conclude by suggesting that the origin of phenotypes can only be understood by integrating findings from all levels of the organismal hierarchy. In most cases, parts and processes from a single level fail to accurately explain the presence of a given phenotypic trait.
现代综合进化论是否需要扩展，这一问题最近成为了讨论和争议的焦点。我们认为，这场争论在很大程度上与现代综合进化论本身并无关系，而主要是关于遗传机制在多大程度上可以被视为表型特征的主要决定因素。现代综合进化论与这样一种观点相关联，即表型是基因产物的结果，而扩展综合进化论的支持者则认为，环境因素以及表观遗传遗传和生态位构建等过程在特征形成中起着重要作用。我们认为，现代进化综合的方法论取得了巨大的成功，但并没有准确地描述表型的起源。就其本身而言，扩展综合进化论尚未转化为可检验的理论，因此，几乎没有产生任何结果。我们的结论是，只有通过整合从生物体层次的所有层次的研究结果，才能理解表型的起源。在大多数情况下，来自单一层次的部分和过程无法准确解释给定表型特征的存在。
