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Sexual reproduction selects for robustness and negative epistasis in artificial gene networks

Author

Listed:
  • Ricardo B. R. Azevedo

    (University of Houston)

  • Rolf Lohaus

    (University of Houston)

  • Suraj Srinivasan

    (University of Houston)

  • Kristen K. Dang

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

  • Christina L. Burch

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Abstract

How sex stays in fashion The origin and persistence of sexual reproduction in living organisms remains one of the deepest mysteries of biology. Although several plausible theories have been proposed, they make predictions that are hard to test in real life. But an experiment run in an artificial gene network model shows that a condition postulated by a leading theory, the mutation deterministic hypothesis, may evolve more easily than was thought. The condition, negative epistasis, is one in which gene mutations are more harmful when combined in the same genome than when separate. In fact the model suggests that negative epistasis can actually evolve as a consequence of sexual reproduction itself.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricardo B. R. Azevedo & Rolf Lohaus & Suraj Srinivasan & Kristen K. Dang & Christina L. Burch, 2006. "Sexual reproduction selects for robustness and negative epistasis in artificial gene networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 440(7080), pages 87-90, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:440:y:2006:i:7080:d:10.1038_nature04488
    DOI: 10.1038/nature04488
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    Cited by:

    1. Javier Santos-Moreno & Eve Tasiudi & Hadiastri Kusumawardhani & Joerg Stelling & Yolanda Schaerli, 2023. "Robustness and innovation in synthetic genotype networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Stefano Ciliberti & Olivier C Martin & Andreas Wagner, 2007. "Robustness Can Evolve Gradually in Complex Regulatory Gene Networks with Varying Topology," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(2), pages 1-10, February.
    3. Liberman, Uri & Feldman, Marcus, 2008. "On the evolution of epistasis III: The haploid case with mutation," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 307-316.
    4. Campos, Paulo R.A. & de Oliveira, Viviane M. & Rosas, Alexandre, 2010. "Epistasis and environmental heterogeneity in the speciation process," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(21), pages 2546-2554.
    5. Manuel Beltrán Del Río & Christopher R. Stephens & David A. Rosenblueth, 2015. "Fitness Landscape Epistasis And Recombination," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(07n08), pages 1-38, November.

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