Description
Book SynopsisThe history of life is a nearly four billion year old story of transformative change. This change ranges from dramatic macroscopic innovations such as the evolution of wings or eyes, to a myriad of molecular changes that form the basis of macroscopic innovations. We are familiar with many examples of innovations (qualitatively new phenotypes that provide a critical benefit) but have no systematic understanding of the principles that allow organisms to innovate. This book proposes several such principles as the basis of a theory of innovation, integrating recent knowledge about complex molecular phenotypes with more traditional Darwinian thinking. Central to the book are genotype networks: vast sets of connected genotypes that exist in metabolism and regulatory circuitry, as well as in protein and RNA molecules. The theory can successfully unify innovations that occur at different levels of organization. It captures known features of biological innovation, including the fact that many i
Trade ReviewThis book will surely be influential with the next generation of evolutionary biologists, who will be able to digest and then apply the significance of a network-centric view of adaptation. Such a perspective will be essential for interpreting the increasing number of empirical studies that recapitulate evolutionary innovations in laboratory experiments. But even those molecular and evolutionary biologists who do not actively work on problems of innovation will benefit from the clarity of Wagner's theoretical arguments, and the inspiring wealth of empirical examples that demonstrate a new way to think of the dynamics of adaptation. * Bioessays *
Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. Metabolic innovation ; 3. Innovation through regulation ; 4. Novel molecules ; 5. The origins of evolutionary innovation ; 6. Genotype networks, self-organization, and natural selection ; 7. A synthesis of neutralism and selectionism ; 8. The role of robustness for innovation ; 9. Gene duplications and innovation ; 10. The role of recombination ; 11. Environmental change in adaptation and innovation ; 12. Evolutionary constraints and genotype spaces ; 13. Phenotypic plasticity and innovation ; 14. Towards continuous genotype spaces ; 15. Evolvable technology and innovation ; 16. Summary and outlook ; Bibliography ; Index
