%0 Journal Article
%T Data mining and the evolution of biological complexity
%A Davnah Urbach
%A Jason H Moore
%J BioData Mining
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1756-0381-4-7
%X Canalization is broadly defined as the evolution of phenotypic robustness to genetic or environmental perturbations [see for e.g. [1-3]]. Canalization buffers developmental pathways against the tendency for both new allelic variants and environmentally-induced noise to generate suboptimal phenotypes, and thereby ensures the reliability of vital mechanisms such as cognition, glucose metabolism or immune response [4].Canalization implies a reduction in trait variability [1,3], i.e. in the propensity to vary in response to mutations or environmental changes [5], whereas it leaves genetic variability unaffected, allowing for cryptic genetic variation to accumulate [6]. By repressing the expression of existing genetic variation and of novel mutations, canalization reduces the responsiveness of traits to natural selection [5], and hence their potential to evolve [1,3]. However, if selection for canalization weakens, the building-up of hidden genetic variation likely increases the potential for evolutionary divergence [1,4].Several molecular mechanisms contribute to canalization [see for e.g. [3]], including redundancy [7] and regulatory genetic interactions [5,8,9]. In the present context, redundancy refers to the compensation for the loss of a gene's activity by one or several alternative genes derived from the same ancestor through gene duplication [7]. The notion of canalization through genetic interactions refers to both the modification of existing interactions and the incorporation of new ones as additional genes enter existing genetic networks [9]. Hence in the former case, robustness is achieved because diverse genetic modules - ranging from single haploid genes to complex genetic networks - can produce virtually identical phenotypes, whereas in the latter, it is achieved by ensuring the robust structure of the genetic networks underlying phenotypes.Canalization provides a theoretical basis for understanding how evolution shapes the genotype-phenotype relationship
%U http://www.biodatamining.org/content/4/1/7