Heritable variation in gene expression is common within and among species and contributes to phenotypic diversity. Mutations affecting either
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Interdisciplinary approaches to predicting evolutionary biology’.
The role of mutations of large effect in adaptive evolution is a question of enduring interest. Large-effect mutations were once seen as unlikely contributors to adaptation, but we now have numerous examples. A major shortcoming of the evidence is the lack of information on fitness effects of mutations. We conducted a quantitative trait locus study that mapped fitness in an experimental field population of stickleback to a large-effect gene,
Heritable variation in gene expression is common within and among species and contributes to phenotypic diversity. Mutations affecting either
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Interdisciplinary approaches to predicting evolutionary biology’.
The distribution of fitness effects of new mutations shapes evolution, but it is challenging to observe how it changes as organisms adapt. Using
The distribution of fitness effects of mutation plays a central role in constraining protein evolution. The underlying mechanisms by which mutations lead to fitness effects are typically attributed to changes in protein specific activity or abundance. Here, we reveal the importance of a mutation’s collateral fitness effects, which we define as effects that do not derive from changes in the protein’s ability to perform its physiological function. We comprehensively measured the collateral fitness effects of missense mutations in the