EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: The Evolution of Developmental Canalization in Networks of Competing Boolean Nodes
Speaker: Kevin Bassler
Speaker Info: University of Houston
Brief Description:
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Abstract:

Canalization, which describes a robustness of phenotype expression against either genetic or environmental change, has long been recognized as an important property of evolution in developmental biology. This is because it results in a buffering of genetic variation that stabilizes the evolutionary process. However, the mechanism responsible for evolution of canalization has remained controversial. Recently, we have discovered a novel mechanism for the evolution of canalization in developmental systems that is free of the problems associated with previously proposed mechanisms. The mechanism is based on a frustrated competition between genes and is demonstrated in a simple model of a genetic regulatory network. The model network evolves to a highly canalized steady state in which two competing dynamical effects balance. It will also be shown that the evolved steady state is a critical state that is fundamentally different than the critical states of random networks.