Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31415555›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2019

Recombination and mutational robustness in neutral fitness landscapes.

Alexander Klug, Su-Chan Park, Joachim Krug

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Robustness revisited: On the neutral evolution of centrality and localization.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Life finds a way.Nature ecology & evolution · 2022
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Alexander KlugInstitute for Biological Physics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5239-0405
Su-Chan ParkDepartment of Physics, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon, Republic of Korea.
Joachim KrugInstitute for Biological Physics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2143-6490

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mutational robustness quantifies the effect of random mutations on fitness. When mutational robustness is high, most mutations do not change fitness or have only a minor effect on it. From the point of view of fitness landscapes, robust genotypes form neutral networks of almost equal fitness. Using deterministic population models it has been shown that selection favors genotypes inside such networks, which results in increased mutational robustness. Here we demonstrate that this effect is massively enhanced by recombination. Our results are based on a detailed analysis of mesa-shaped fitness landscapes, where we derive precise expressions for the dependence of the robustness on the landscape parameters for recombining and non-recombining populations. In addition, we carry out numerical simulations on different types of random holey landscapes as well as on an empirical fitness landscape. We show that the mutational robustness of a genotype generally correlates with its recombination weight, a new measure that quantifies the likelihood for the genotype to arise from recombination. We argue that the favorable effect of recombination on mutational robustness is a highly universal feature that may have played an important role in the emergence and maintenance of mechanisms of genetic exchange.

Indexed as

Genetic FitnessModels, GeneticMutationRecombination, GeneticAnimalsComputational BiologyComputer SimulationEpistasis, GeneticEvolution, MolecularFemaleGenotypeMaleReproductionSelection, Genetic

Identifiers

PMID31415555
PMCPMC6711544

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.