Marianne Rasmuson | PubMed Health

PubMed2002

Review. The genotype-phenotype link.

The basic knowledge which has opened for the new discipline of functional genomics stems from one hundred years of debates and experimentation among devoted geneticists, who tried to understand the processing of gene expression into phenotypic design without the molecular tools that are now available. Here I recapitulate some old and some newer results from this research, which illustrate the ways in which changes in genetic variation can be induced, how it can be kept latent or, when needed, be expressed in the phenotype.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Fluctuating asymmetry--indicator of what?

In a population the optimal phenotype is promoted by buffering mechanisms that keep inter- and intra-individual variation low. A link exists between canalization, that controls phenotypic variation, and developmental stability, mostly measured as fluctuating asymmetry of bilateral traits (FA). Both types of variation are associated with the functional importance of a trait, and both are increased by stress of various kinds. But there are also several instances of non-congruence. The concept of developmental stability has been found elusive, and low FA is not the unambiguous measure of well being and good genes that has been claimed. It can be concluded that developmental stability is partly governed by specific, as yet unknown, molecular processes.

Animals↗