This observation seems to disagree with a recent meta-analysis on phenotypic changes by Darimont et al. (2009), who reported that human predators in general exerted significantly greater phenotypic changes compared with both natural and nonexploitative anthropogenic environmental changes.
If evolution cannot proceed by genetic changes with very small phenotypic effects, then how are the many potentially deleterious effects of large phenotypic changes avoided?
This has been shown in vitro, with comparisons of multiple miRNA versus a single miRNA targeted highlighting that when multiple miRNA with co-ordinated function are modified, greater phenotypic change is seen, as reported in multiple publications45,46.
T47D cells were chosen for this part of the experiment as they had shown the greatest phenotypic change in response to miR-183 modulation.
It is likely that the more central in the network a gene is (i.e. its coded protein), the greater the phenotypic changes that a mutation in the promoter region can produce.
The P. rebeli's developmental rate shows great phenotypic plasticity (changing its developmental rate in response to changes in the environment), as it develops very quickly in the lab and in the Pyrenees and Southern Alps.
These differences include broader eco-climatic ranges, higher physiological performance, altered size at flowering, high-performance parameters, greater phenotypic plasticity, changed reproductive/pollination and life history strategies and increases in polyploidy.
