iScience
Volume 23, Issue 11, 20 November 2020, 101736
Journal home page for iScience

Perspective
Reflections on the Predictability of Evolution: Toward a Conceptual Framework

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101736Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Summary

Evolution is generally considered to be unpredictable because genetic variations are known to occur randomly. However, remarkable patterns of repeated convergent evolution are observed, for instance, loss of pigments by organisms living in caves. Analogous phenotypes appear in similar environments, sometimes in response to similar constraints. Alongside randomness, a certain evolutionary determinism also exists, for instance, the selection of particular phenotypes subjected to particular environmental constraints in the “evolutionary funnel.” We pursue the idea that eco-evolutionary specialization is in some way determinist. The conceptual framework of phenotypic changes entailing specialization presented in this essay explains how evolution can be predicted. We also discuss how the predictability of evolution could be tested using the case of metabolic specialization through gene losses. We also put forward that microorganisms could be key models to test and possibly make headway evolutionary predictions and knowledge about evolution.

Subject Areas

Evolutionary Biology
Evolutionary Theories

Cited by (0)

2

Present address: DYNERGIE, 1 place Giovanni da Verrazzano, 69009 Lyon, France