Journal
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
Volume 272, Issue 1, Pages 141-144Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.12.015
Keywords
Epistasis; Fitness landscape; Adaptation; Evolution; Specific interactions
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Funding
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijke Onderzoek
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Having multiple peaks within fitness landscapes critically affects the course of evolution, but whether their presence imposes specific requirements at the level of genetic interactions remains unestablished. Here we show that to exhibit multiple fitness peaks, a biological system must contain reciprocal sign epistatic interactions, which are defined as genetic changes that are separately unfavorable but jointly advantageous. Using Morse theory, we argue that it is impossible to formulate a sufficient condition for multiple peaks in terms of local genetic interactions. These findings indicate that systems incapable of reciprocal sign epistasis will always possess a single fitness peak. However, reciprocal sign epistasis should be pervasive in nature as it is a logical consequence of specificity in molecular interactions. The results thus predict that specific molecular interactions may yield multiple fitness peaks, which can be tested experimentally. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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