The pleiotropic structure of the genotype–phenotype map: the evolvability of complex organisms
- 18 February 2011
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Reviews Genetics
- Vol. 12 (3), 204-213
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2949
Abstract
It was first noticed 100 years ago that mutations tend to affect more than one phenotypic characteristic, a phenomenon that was called 'pleiotropy'. Because pleiotropy was found so frequently, the notion arose that pleiotropy is 'universal'. However, quantitative estimates of pleiotropy have not been available until recently. These estimates show that pleiotropy is highly restricted and are more in line with the notion of variational modularity than with universal pleiotropy. This finding has major implications for the evolvability of complex organisms and the mapping of disease-causing mutations.Keywords
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