Facilitated Variation: How Evolution Learns from Past Environments To Generalize to New Environments
2008
How Evolution Learns from Past Environments
publication
Evidence: high
Author Information
Author(s): Merav Parter, Nadav Alon, Uri Alon
Primary Institution: Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Hypothesis
How does facilitated variation spontaneously emerge during evolution?
Conclusion
The study finds that environments that change systematically promote facilitated variation and enhance adaptability to new conditions.
Supporting Evidence
- Organisms evolved under modularly varying goals can adapt rapidly to new goals.
- Facilitated variation is enhanced in environments that change systematically.
- Genetic triggers in genomes allow for significant phenotypic changes with minimal mutations.
Takeaway
This study shows that when environments change in a regular way, organisms can remember their past and adapt better to new challenges.
Methodology
The study used computer simulations of logic circuits and RNA secondary structures to analyze the evolution of facilitated variation.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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