Integrating Evolutionary Game Theory into Mechanistic Genotype-Phenotype Mapping

Xuli Zhu; Libo Jiang; Meixia Ye; Lidan Sun; Claudia Gragnoli; Rongling Wu

doi:10.1016/j.tig.2016.02.004

Integrating Evolutionary Game Theory into Mechanistic Genotype-Phenotype Mapping

Trends Genet. 2016 May;32(5):256-268. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2016.02.004. Epub 2016 Mar 24.

Authors

Xuli Zhu¹, Libo Jiang¹, Meixia Ye¹, Lidan Sun², Claudia Gragnoli³, Rongling Wu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Center for Computational Biology, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
² Center for Statistical Genetics, Departments of Public Health Sciences and Statistics, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
³ Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; Molecular Biology Laboratory, Bios Biotech Multi-Diagnostic Health Center, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Center for Computational Biology, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Center for Statistical Genetics, Departments of Public Health Sciences and Statistics, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA. Electronic address: rwu@bjfu.edu.cn.

PMID: 27017185
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2016.02.004

Abstract

Natural selection has shaped the evolution of organisms toward optimizing their structural and functional design. However, how this universal principle can enhance genotype-phenotype mapping of quantitative traits has remained unexplored. Here we show that the integration of this principle and functional mapping through evolutionary game theory gains new insight into the genetic architecture of complex traits. By viewing phenotype formation as an evolutionary system, we formulate mathematical equations to model the ecological mechanisms that drive the interaction and coordination of its constituent components toward population dynamics and stability. Functional mapping provides a procedure for estimating the genetic parameters that specify the dynamic relationship of competition and cooperation and predicting how genes mediate the evolution of this relationship during trait formation.

Keywords: differential equations; functional mapping; game theory; quantitative trait loci.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biological Evolution*
Game Theory*
Genotype
Models, Biological*
Phenotype
Population Dynamics
Quantitative Trait Loci / genetics*
Selection, Genetic