ArticleNature ecology & evolution2017
Evolution of complex adaptations in molecular systems.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Parallel within-host evolution alters virulence factors in an opportunistic Klebsiella pneumoniae during a hospital outbreak.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Unveiling the link between phytoplankton molecular physiology and biogeochemical cycling via genome-scale modeling.Science advances · 2025Article
- Have you tried turning it off and on again? Oscillating selection to enhance fitness-landscape traversal in adaptive laboratory evolution experiments.Metabolic engineering communications · 2023Review
- Gene transcriptional profiles in gonads of Bacillus taxa (Phasmida) with different cytological mechanisms of automictic parthenogenesis.Zoological letters · 2022Article
- Simple mechanisms for the evolution of protein complexity.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2022Review
- Contribution of genome-scale metabolic modelling to niche theory.Ecology letters · 2022Article
- Evolutionary pathways to SARS-CoV-2 resistance are opened and closed by epistasis acting on ACE2.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- Consequences of mutation accumulation for growth performance are more likely to be resource-dependent at higher temperatures.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Emerging Adaptive Strategies Under Temperature Fluctuations in a Laboratory Evolution Experiment ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- The Macroevolutionary Consequences of Niche Construction in Microbial Metabolism.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Senescence and entrenchment in evolution of amino acid sites.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Readthrough Errors Purge Deleterious Cryptic Sequences, Facilitating the Birth of Coding Sequences.Molecular biology and evolution · 2020Article
- Adaptation of the master antioxidant response connects metabolism, lifespan and feather development pathways in birds.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Environmental boundary conditions for the origin of life converge to an organo-sulfur metabolism.Nature ecology & evolution · 2019Article
- Genotype network intersections promote evolutionary innovation.PLoS biology · 2019Article
- Structure and evolution of the 4-helix bundle domain of Zuotin, a J-domain protein co-chaperone of Hsp70.PloS one · 2019Article
- On the deformability of an empirical fitness landscape by microbial evolution.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- Article
- Differential strengths of molecular determinants guide environment specific mutational fates.PLoS genetics · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A central challenge in evolutionary biology concerns the mechanisms by which complex adaptations arise. Such adaptations depend on the fixation of multiple, highly specific mutations, where intermediate stages of evolution seemingly provide little or no benefit. It is generally assumed that the establishment of complex adaptations is very slow in nature, as evolution of such traits demands special population genetic or environmental circumstances. However, blueprints of complex adaptations in molecular systems are pervasive, indicating that they can readily evolve. We discuss the prospects and limitations of non-adaptive scenarios, which assume multiple neutral or deleterious steps in the evolution of complex adaptations. Next, we examine how complex adaptations can evolve by natural selection in changing environment. Finally, we argue that molecular 'springboards', such as phenotypic heterogeneity and promiscuous interactions facilitate this process by providing access to new adaptive paths.
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