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GENETIC ASSIMILATION OF AN ACQUIRED CHARACTER
Author(s) -
Waddington C. H.
Publication year - 1953
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1953.tb00070.x
Subject(s) - character (mathematics) , biology , citation , genealogy , library science , genetics , computer science , history , geometry , mathematics
Under the influence of natural selection, development tends to become canalised so that more or less normal organs and tissues are produced even in the face of slight abnormalities of the genotype or of the external environment (Waddington, 1940). It has been suggested that if an animal is subjected to unusual circumstances to which it can react in an adaptive manner, the development of the adaptive character might itself become so far canalised that it continued to appear even when the conditions returned to the previous norm (Waddington, 1942). This mechanism would provide a means by which an "acquired character" in the conventional sense could be "assimilated" by the genotype, and eventually appear comparatively independent of any specific environmental influence. Schmalhausen (1947) has independently suggested a very similar process, which he has discussed at some length under the name "stabilising selection"; a phrase which, however, he uses in a number of different senses, as Simpson (1947) has pointed out. The purpose of the present communication is to describe an experiment in which this hypothesis was tested and shown to operate as expected. A preliminary account of the work has been published in Waddington (1952a). The laborious work of classifying the large numbers of individuals involved was carried out by my technical assistant, Miss Evelyn Paton, to whose care and devotion I should like to pay a tribute.