Andreas Wagner (Zurich), Entangled adaptive landscapes facilitate exaptation (in-person)

Andreas Wagner is an Austrian/US evolutionary biologist and Professor at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University Zurich, Switzerland. His laboratory studies the evolution and function of biological complexity and diversity. It combines experimental and theoretical approaches to investigate genome evolution, gene regulation, and phenotypic plasticity.

He is known for his work on the role of robustness and innovation in biological evolution.

Abstract

Exaptation, the co-option of existing traits for new functions, is central to Darwinian evolution.
It has played a role in evolutionary innovations as different as the eye lens and antifreeze proteins. Exaptations typically require multiple small and poorly understood mutational steps. We usually do not know whether these steps are individually favored by natural selection, or whether other evolutionary forces are needed to preserve them. Here I address this question in the context of gene regulation, a process underlying evolutionary innovations that range from new bacterial stress responses to new animal body plans. Gene regulation is mediated by transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), short DNA words near a gene to which proteins called transcription factor (TFs) bind, and from which they regulate gene expression. New forms of gene regulation require the evolution of new TFBSs, for example through exaptation of old TFBSs. I discuss a massively parallel experiment recently performed in my lab to investigate the potential of bacterial TFBSs to evolve exaptively for three Escherichia coli TFs. The experiment shows that starting from a strong TFBS for one of our TFs, Darwinian evolution could create a strong binding site for another TF through a small number of individually adaptive mutations. Notably, most intermediate genotypes are prone to transcriptional crosstalk – gene regulation mediated by both TFs. Our study highlights the importance of regulatory crosstalk for the diversification of bacterial gene regulation.

Publications

Andreas Wagner has published many scientific articles, a series of book chapters and several books:

Scientific articles

• Andreas Wagner Publication list (University of Zürich: Andreas Wagner Laboratory)

Books

• Wagner, A. (2019) Life Finds a Way: What Evolution Teaches Us About Creativity. Basic Books.
• Wagner, A. (2014) The Arrival of the Fittest: How Nature Innovates. Penguin Random House.
• Wagner, A. (2011) The Origins of Evolutionary Innovations. Oxford University Press.
• Wagner, A. (2009) Paradoxical Life. Yale University Press.
• Wagner, A. (2005) Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems. Princeton University Press.

Fellowships and awards

2014 Elected Member, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
2011 Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2010 Gold medal for the book “Paradoxical Life”, Independent Publisher Book Award (science category)
2010 Silver medal for the book “Paradoxical Life” ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award (philosophy category)
2004- Member, Faculty of 1000 Biology
1996-1998 Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Santa Fe Institute
1995-1996 Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study Berlin, Germany
1995 J.S. Nicholas Prize for Best Dissertation in Experimental Zoology