Genetic Assimilation in Natural Selection
It has not been proven that genetic assimilation occurs in natural evolution, but it is difficult to rule it out from having at least a minor role, and research continues into the question. Mathematical modeling suggests that under certain circumstances, natural selection will favor the evolution of canalization that is designed to fail under extreme conditions. If the result of such a failure is favored by natural selection, genetic assimilation will occur. In the 1960s C. H. Waddington and J. M. Rendel argued for the importance of genetic assimilation in natural adaptation as a means of providing new and potentially beneficial variation to populations under stress. Their contemporary Williams argued that genetic assimilation proceeds at the cost of a loss of developmental plasticity, and should be a minor mechanism. If it occurs frequently, genetic assimilation could contribute to punctuated equilibrium in evolution, as organisms repeatedly evolve systems of canalization, then break out of them under adverse circumstances.
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