The molecular and mathematical basis of Waddington's epigenetic landscape: A framework for post‐Darwinian biology?
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Abstract
The Neo-Darwinian concept of natural selection is plausible when one assumes a straightforward causation of phenotype by genotype. However, such simple 1:1 mapping must now give place to the modern concepts of gene regulatory networks and gene expression noise. Both can, in the absence of genetic mutations, jointly generate a diversity of inheritable randomly occupied phenotypic states that could also serve as a substrate for natural selection. This form of epigenetic dynamics challenges Neo-Darwinism. It needs to incorporate the non-linear, stochastic dynamics of gene networks. A first step is to consider the mathematical correspondence between gene regulatory networks and Waddington's metaphoric 'epigenetic landscape', which actually represents the quasi-potential function of global network dynamics. It explains the coexistence of multiple stable phenotypes within one genotype. The landscape's topography with its attractors is shaped by evolution through mutational re-wiring of regulatory interactions - offering a link between genetic mutation and sudden, broad evolutionary changes.
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The record
- Venue
- BioEssays
- Topic
- Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
- Field
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Canadian institutions
- —
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaCanadian Institutes of Health Research
- Keywords
- BiologyDarwinismEvolutionary biologyEpigeneticsBasis (linear algebra)Computational biologyEcologyGeneticsGene
- Has abstract in OpenAlex
- yes