Abstract

In the mid of 1990s, Andreas Wagner proposed a gene regulatory network model where the self-development process was explicitly modelled in the system. The many-to-one mapping mechanism of genotype to phenotype in Wagner’s GRN model enables genes to buffer against and even exploit likely variations in the genome. This mechanism is crucial for evolutionary innovations, because genotypes which control gene-gene interactions can change profoundly without affecting phenotypes which represent gene activities or expression concentrations. Wagner’s GRN model motivates research on the evolution of genetic networks and has been successfully employed to study many fundamental evolutionary and ecological questions. In this paper, I will review Wagner’s GRN model and currently available research papers that fall into its framework.