Understanding bias in the introduction of variation as an evolutionary cause

TL;DR

This paper explores how biases in the introduction of genetic variation influence evolutionary outcomes, revealing that such biases can drive directional trends and adaptation, challenging traditional views of evolution.

Contribution

It demonstrates that quantitative biases in mutation introduction can significantly affect evolution, integrating developmental and structuralist perspectives into evolutionary theory.

Findings

Biases can cause directional evolution without high mutation rates.

Mutational biases influence adaptation across diverse taxa.

Developmental biases can have effects similar to mutational biases.

Abstract

Our understanding of evolution is shaped strongly by how we conceive of its fundamental causes. In the original Modern Synthesis, evolution was defined as a process of shifting the frequencies of available alleles at many loci affecting a trait under selection. Events of mutation that introduce novelty were not considered evolutionary causes, but proximate causes acting at the wrong level. Today it is clear that long-term evolutionary dynamics depend on the dynamics of mutational introduction. Yet, the implications of this dependency remain unfamiliar, and have not yet penetrated into high-level debates over evolutionary theory. Modeling the influence of biases in the introduction process reveals behavior previously unimagined, as well as behavior previously considered impossible. Quantitative biases in the introduction of variation can impose biases on the outcome of evolution without requiring high mutation rates or neutral evolution. Mutation-biased adaptation, a possibility not previously imagined, has been observed among diverse taxa. Directional trends are possible under a sustained bias. Biases that are developmental in origin may have an effect analogous to mutational biases. Structuralist arguments invoking the relative accessibility of forms in state-space can be understood as references to the role of biases in the introduction of variation. That is, the characteristic concerns of molecular evolution, evo-devo and structuralism can be interpreted to implicate a kind of causation absent from the original Modern Synthesis.