Robustness, evolvability, and neutrality.

Abstract excerpt

Biological systems, from macromolecules to whole organisms, are robust if they continue to function, survive, or reproduce when faced with mutations, environmental change, and internal noise. I focus here on biological systems that are robust to mutations and ask whether such systems are more or less evolvable, in the sense that they can acquire novel properties. The more robust a system is, the more mutations in...

Topics

• Animals
• Biological Evolution
• Evolution, Molecular
• Humans
• Models, Genetic
• Mutation
• Phenotype
• Selection, Genetic