Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems
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A01=Andreas Wagner
Adaptive immune system
Amino acid
Anecdotal evidence
Antibody
Antibody Diversity
Author_Andreas Wagner
Biological activity
Biological system
Biomolecular structure
Biosynthesis
Category=PSAJ
Category=PSAK
Cell adhesion
Cell surface receptor
Common descent
Community structure
Conserved quantity
Conserved sequence
Cooperative binding
Cooperativity
Directional selection
Effective population size
Enhancer (genetics)
Enzyme
Enzyme Stability
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
Equilibrium constant
Evolution
Evolution of dominance
Evolvability
Extracellular matrix
Functional genomics
Gene
Gene expression
Gene redundancy
Genetic code
Genetic diversity
Heritability
Homeostasis
Horizontal gene transfer
Hsp90
Immortalised cell line
In vitro
Intelligent agent
Law of mass action
Level of detail
Maximum parsimony (phylogenetics)
Metabolism
Molecule
Multicellular organism
Mutation rate
Natural selection
Network robustness
Neutral mutation
Neutral network (evolution)
Neutral theory of molecular evolution
Nucleotide
Optimality criterion
Optimism
Organism
Parity bit
Pattern formation
Physiological condition
Population size
Protein
Regulation of gene expression
RNA
Robustness (evolution)
Self-organization
Strong interaction
Structural similarity
Synonymous substitution
Transcription factor
Virulence
Product details
- ISBN 9780691134048
- Weight: 510g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 22 Jul 2007
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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All living things are remarkably complex, yet their DNA is unstable, undergoing countless random mutations over generations. Despite this instability, most animals do not grow two heads or die, plants continue to thrive, and bacteria continue to divide. Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems tackles this perplexing paradox. The book explores why genetic changes do not cause organisms to fail catastrophically and how evolution shapes organisms' robustness. Andreas Wagner looks at this problem from the ground up, starting with the alphabet of DNA, the genetic code, RNA, and protein molecules, moving on to genetic networks and embryonic development, and working his way up to whole organisms. He then develops an evolutionary explanation for robustness. Wagner shows how evolution by natural selection preferentially finds and favors robust solutions to the problems organisms face in surviving and reproducing. Such robustness, he argues, also enhances the potential for future evolutionary innovation.
Wagner also argues that robustness has less to do with organisms having plenty of spare parts (the redundancy theory that has been popular) and more to do with the reality that mutations can change organisms in ways that do not substantively affect their fitness. Unparalleled in its field, this book offers the most detailed analysis available of all facets of robustness within organisms. It will appeal not only to biologists but also to engineers interested in the design of robust systems and to social scientists concerned with robustness in human communities and populations.
Andreas Wagner is professor of biochemistry at the University of Zurich. He studies the evolution of biological systems on all levels of organismal organization, from genes and genomes to gene networks and embryonic development
