10.80001/25NR
Benedikt Hallgrimsson
Benedikt
Hallgrimsson
Ralph S. Marcucio
Ralph
Marcucio
David Katz
David
Katz
Trevor Williams
Trevor
Williams
Charles C. Roseman
Charles
Roseman
James M. Cheverud
James
Cheverud
Jennifer L. Fish
Jennifer
Fish
Rebecca M. Green
Rebecca
Green
Hallgrimsson, Marcucio. Developmental Nonlinearity Drives Phenotypic Robustness
Robustness to perturbation is a fundamental feature of complex organisms. Mutations are the raw material for evolution, yet robustness to their effects is required for species survival. The mechanisms that produce robustness are poorly understood. Nonlinearities are a ubiquitous feature of development that may link variation in development to phenotypic robustness. Here, we manipulate the gene dosage of a signaling molecule, Fgf8, a critical regulator of vertebrate development. We demonstrate that variation in Fgf8 expression has a nonlinear relationship to phenotypic variation, predicting levels of robustness among genotypes. Differences in robustness are not due to gene expression variance or dysregulation, but emerge from the nonlinearity of the genotype–phenotype curve. In this instance, embedded features of development explain robustness differences. How such features vary in natural populations and relate to genetic variation are key questions for unraveling the origin and evolvability of this feature of organismal development.
FaceBase (www.facebase.org)
2020
Developmental Nonlinearity Drives Phenotypic Robustness
Project
Craniofacial development
Craniosafial malformation
en
Dataset
1
National Institute of Health (NIH)
5U01DE024449
FaceBase Coordinating Center