Selection, gene interaction, and flexible gene networks.

Recent results from a variety of different kinds of experiments, mainly using behavior as an assay, and ranging from laboratory selection experiments to gene interaction studies, show that a much wider range of genes can affect phenotype than those identified as "core genes" in classical mutant screens. Moreover, very pleiotropic genes can produce specific phenotypes when mild variants are combined. These studies also show that gene networks readily change configuration and the relationships between interacting genes in response to the introduction of additional genetic variants, suggesting that the networks range widely and have a high degree of flexibility and malleability. Such flexibility, in turn, offers a plausible mechanism for the molding of phenotypes through microevolution, as a prerequisite to making a suitable environment for the acceptance of newly arising large-effect mutations in the transition from microevolution to macroevolution.