mutational robustness
Proulx SR, Nuzhdin S & Promislow DEL 2007 Direct selection on genetic robustness revealed in the yeast transcriptome. PLoS ONE 2:e911.
- in contrast to environmental robustness, selection on genetic robustness for a trait is expected to be largely independent of the fitness cost of altering the trait and instead should correlate with the standing genetic variation for the trait that can potentially be buffered
- several mechanisms that provide both environmental and genetic robustness have been described
- this correlation could be explained by direct selection on both forms of robustness (direct selection hypothesis)
- or through selection on environmental robustness and a correlated response in genetic robustness (congruence hypothesis)
- environmental robustness, but not genetic robustness, is related to per-gene fitness effects
- genetic robustness is significantly correlated with network position
- suggesting that genetic robustness has been under direct selection
- we observed a significant correlation between our measures of genetic and environmental robustness
- in agreement with the congruence hypothesis
- this correlation alone cannot explain the co-variance of genetic robustness with position in the protein interaction network
- direct selection on robustness has played a role in the evolution of genetic robustness in the transcriptome
