Combined certainty and uncertainty across development frees phenotypic variation in evolution

Abstract

Developmental bias plays a major role in phenotypic evolution. Some researchers have argued that phenotypes, regulated by development, can only evolve along restricted trajectory under certain scenarios, such as the case for mammalian molar size ratios. However, this view has been challenged. Broadly speaking, sources for phenotypic variation remain largely unknown. The study here presents a generalized Inhibitory Cascade Model and explains that the original model described only means of phenotypes resulting from selection when viewed under a higher taxonomic scope. Consequently, I propose the combined property of development: certainty, when the prior intersegmental inhibition is strong, and uncertainty, when the opposite holds. This property potentially not only explains counterintuitively high levels of developmental instability, but also plays an essential role in generating phenotypic variation.