The evolutionary origin of complex features
Abstract
A long-standing challenge to evolutionary theory has been whether it can explain the origin of complex organismal features. We examined this issue using digital organisms—computer programs that self-replicate, mutate, compete and evolve. Populations of digital organisms often evolved the ability to perform complex logic functions requiring the coordinated execution of many genomic instructions. Complex functions evolved by building on simpler functions that had evolved earlier, provided that these were also selectively favoured. However, no particular intermediate stage was essential for evolving complex functions. The first genotypes able to perform complex functions differed from their non-performing parents by only one or two mutations, but differed from the ancestor by many mutations that were also crucial to the new functions. In some cases, mutations that were deleterious when they appeared served as stepping-stones in the evolution of complex features. These findings show how complex functions can originate by random mutation and natural selection.
Additional Information
© 2003 Nature Publishing Group. Received 19 September 2002; accepted 13 March 2003. We thank A. Bennett, J. Bull, J. Coyne, D. Lenski, M. Lenski and E. Zuckerkandl for comments. The authors' work is supported by the US National Science Foundation Biocomplexity Program and by the MSU Foundation. Part of this work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory under contract with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - nature01568-s1.pdf
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- CaltechAUTHORS:20150326-134627107
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2015-03-27Created from EPrint's datestamp field
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field