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Cryptic genetic variation promotes rapid evolutionary adaptation in an RNA enzyme

Author

Listed:
  • Eric J. Hayden

    (Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
    The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge-Batiment Genopode, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

  • Evandro Ferrada

    (Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
    The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge-Batiment Genopode, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

  • Andreas Wagner

    (Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
    The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge-Batiment Genopode, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
    The Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road)

Abstract

Be prepared, with cryptic mutations Some mutations, known as cryptic mutations, have no observable effect on an organism's phenotype unless combined with other mutations or environmental changes. As the originally cryptic variation can turn out to be beneficial in such new conditions, it has been proposed that it may facilitate evolutionary adaptation — or 'evolvability', but this has not been rigorously demonstrated experimentally because of the complexity of both natural genomes and environments. In a study of a simplified system in vitro — the catalytic activity of a single RNA enzyme — Andreas Wagner and colleagues demonstrate that a population that has accumulated more cryptic variation adapts more rapidly to a new chemical environment than a competing population with fewer variations. The existence of such a pre-adaptation mechanism would have fundamental implications for animal and plant breeding, as well as for complex trait diseases in humans.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric J. Hayden & Evandro Ferrada & Andreas Wagner, 2011. "Cryptic genetic variation promotes rapid evolutionary adaptation in an RNA enzyme," Nature, Nature, vol. 474(7349), pages 92-95, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:474:y:2011:i:7349:d:10.1038_nature10083
    DOI: 10.1038/nature10083
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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. Sam F Greenbury & Steffen Schaper & Sebastian E Ahnert & Ard A Louis, 2016. "Genetic Correlations Greatly Increase Mutational Robustness and Can Both Reduce and Enhance Evolvability," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-27, March.
    3. Rigato, Emanuele & Fusco, Giuseppe, 2020. "A heuristic model of the effects of phenotypic robustness in adaptive evolution," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 22-30.
    4. Anthony V Furano & Charlie E Jones & Vipul Periwal & Kathryn E Callahan & Jean-Claude Walser & Pamela R Cook, 2020. "Cryptic genetic variation enhances primate L1 retrotransposon survival by enlarging the functional coiled coil sequence space of ORF1p," PLOS Genetics, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(8), pages 1-19, August.
    5. Miguel A Fortuna & Luis Zaman & Charles Ofria & Andreas Wagner, 2017. "The genotype-phenotype map of an evolving digital organism," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, February.

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