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Table 7 Plasticity slows down the frequency increase of circuits in a new optimal genotype network.

From: Phenotypic plasticity can facilitate adaptive evolution in gene regulatory circuits

N

c

d

Sample size

Mean t0.25,control

Mean t0.25,plast

p-value

8

0.4

0.125

498

27.55

46.72

< 2.2 × 10-16

  

0.25

498

30.69

45.91

< 2.2 × 10-16

  

0.5

497

28.01

45.63

< 2.2 × 10-16

 

0.3

0.125

495

18.8

26.49

< 2.2 × 10-16

  

0.25

498

19.25

25.86

< 2.2 × 10-16

  

0.5

498

26.44

25.99

< 2.2 × 10-16

16

0.25

0.125

413

41.61

106.96

6.9 × 10-14

  

0.25

431

35.66

138.98

< 2.2 × 10-16

  

0.5

418

49.76

162.98

< 2.2 × 10-16

 

0.2

0.125

462

43.4

143.45

< 2.2 × 10-16

  

0.25

466

36.48

133.72

< 2.2 × 10-16

  

0.5

471

42.01

120.97

< 2.2 × 10-16

20

0.2

0.25

152

35.45

103.8

4.4 × 10-10

  1. The number of generations that a population needs to increase the fraction of its circuits in the new genotype network to 25 percent is significantly higher with plasticity, i.e., t0.25,plast>t0.25,controlaccording to a Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
  2. The value of d is that of the old genotype network. We analyzed 500 pairs of evolving populations for each combination of N, c and d. We discarded population pairs in which any of the populations never had 25% of its circuits in the new genotype network by the end of the simulation (t = 104). Thus, our actual sample size was lower than 500 populations. The probability α of gene-activity perturbation in s0 equaled 0.05 per gene when N = 8, 0.025 when N = 16, and 0.02 when N = 20. Population size M = 1000; μ = 0.5; ωnative = 0.5.