Canalization and Epistasis

Epistasis has been defined in multiple different ways (e.g. Hollander 1955; Philips 1998; Brodie 2000; Wade et al. 2001; Cordell 2002; Moore and Williams 2005). Most definitions relate back to early work by Bateson (1909) and Fisher (1918) that focused on "biological epistasis" and "statistical epistasis", respectively. A biological system is said to be canalized (Waddington 1942, 1957) when it is buffered against mutations and/or environmental change. Canalization results from stabilizing selection and leads to robust genetic networks that exhibit epistasis (e.g. Gibson and Wagner 2000; de Visser et al. 2003). A new review by Proulx and Phillips (2005) discusses canalization and the evolution of genetic networks.

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