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Theories of adaptation: what they do and don’t say

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Abstract

Theoretical work on adaptation has lagged behind experimental. But two classes of adaptation model have been partly explored. One is phenotypic and the other DNA sequence based. I briefly consider an example of each – Fisher’s geometric model and Gillespie’s mutational landscape model, respectively – reviewing recent results. Despite their fundamental differences, these models give rise to several strikingly similar results. I consider possible reasons for this congruence. I also emphasize what predictions do and, as important, do not follow from these models.

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Correspondence to H. Allen Orr.

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Orr, H.A. Theories of adaptation: what they do and don’t say. Genetica 123, 3–13 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-004-2702-3

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