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Bioessays. 2012 Feb;34(2):149-57. doi: 10.1002/bies.201100031. Epub 2011 Nov 18.

The molecular and mathematical basis of Waddington's epigenetic landscape: a framework for post-Darwinian biology?

Author information

1
Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA, USA. sui.huang@systemsbiology.org

Abstract

The Neo-Darwinian concept of natural selection is plausible when one assumes a straightforward causation of phenotype by genotype. However, such simple 1:1 mapping must now give place to the modern concepts of gene regulatory networks and gene expression noise. Both can, in the absence of genetic mutations, jointly generate a diversity of inheritable randomly occupied phenotypic states that could also serve as a substrate for natural selection. This form of epigenetic dynamics challenges Neo-Darwinism. It needs to incorporate the non-linear, stochastic dynamics of gene networks. A first step is to consider the mathematical correspondence between gene regulatory networks and Waddington's metaphoric 'epigenetic landscape', which actually represents the quasi-potential function of global network dynamics. It explains the coexistence of multiple stable phenotypes within one genotype. The landscape's topography with its attractors is shaped by evolution through mutational re-wiring of regulatory interactions - offering a link between genetic mutation and sudden, broad evolutionary changes.

PMID:
22102361
DOI:
10.1002/bies.201100031
[Indexed for MEDLINE]

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