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Exploring theoretical morphospaces [Review of: G.R. McGhee (2006) The geometry ofevolution: adaptive landscapes and theoretical morphospaces]

Kaandorp, J.A.

Published in:BioScience

DOI:10.1641/BS80315

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Citation for published version (APA):Kaandorp, J. A. (2008). Exploring theoretical morphospaces [Review of: G.R. McGhee (2006) The geometry ofevolution: adaptive landscapes and theoretical morphospaces]. BioScience, 58(3), 271-272.https://doi.org/10.1641/BS80315

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Download date: 26 Jun 2020

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efficient killers. Such is the case of a fam-ily of nematodes that infects insects.When the nematodes penetrate an in-secl, they release compounds to inactivatethe immune response of the insect, inthe process releasing some specific bac-teria they have transported with them.The bacteria proliferate once the innateimmune response of the insect is knockeddown, and the nematode and bacteriareproduce to huge numbers at the in-sect's expense. W^en the resources areexhausted, the remaining nematodes feedon some of the bacteria, then millionsleave the corpse to look for new potentialhosts. This association of nematode andbacteria has been exploited and used inbiological control programs to reduceagricultural damage caused by lepi-dopteran and coleopteran pests to ac-ceptable levels. The biotechnologyindustry is exploiting the compoundsproduced hy nematodes and bacteria todevelop new drugs, all of them possiblebecause of a very successful symbioticassociation between two lowly organ-isms.

Some of the chapters describe the useof bacterial pathogens to reduce pestinsect populations that cause losses inhuman agriculture. It should be noted,however, that beneficial insects such ashoneybees have bacterial and viral dis-eases of their own, which may result inhive death and reductions in agriculturalproduction. Despite hives' innate im-mune defenses, the loss of colonies orapiaries to bacteria, viruses, or mites isoften severe. We still have not foundmeasures to protect hives from thesepathogens, and we cannot expect insectswe consider beneficial to be exempt fi'omhaving them.

Fungal diseases of invertebrates alsoabound, some of which have heen de-veloped and exploited to control pestssuch as the gypsy moth or locusts. Sci-entists' keen observations of sick insectsled to the discovery of these compounds,which are now sprayed from airplanes tocontrol outbreaks of these pest insects.The associations described above aresymbiotic, and we have exploited theseclose linkages to achieve biological con-trol of a problem species. Often, though,humans created the problem in the first

place through extensive monoculturesor hy moving organisms to regions wherenatural controls are in short supply.

Davidson has done a good joh of de-scribing the historical context in whichthese pathogens have been developed ascontrols. She also portrays the individu-als from a range of countries who haveworked together in their own symbioticrelationships to solve the problems. Itshould be noted that many activities ofscientists, such as sending live biologicalmateria] from laboratory to laboratoryand continent to continent, are not assimple today as they may have been onlya few decades ago.

BI6 FLEAS HAVEt inLE FLE

Big Fleas Have Little Fleas is not an in-depth text for researchers on biochemi-cal methodologies, large-scale productionprocesses, or the biochemistry of pest-control agent interactions. There aremany mo re-specialized texts for theirpurposes. What Davidson has producedis an overview and a recent history ofthe development of the"little fleas," or themicrobial pathogens, that we have ex-ploited to control the big fleas—the peststhat cause us no end of grief, either di-rectly [mosquitoes that transmit para-sites) or indirectly (pests that reduce ourfood supply). As such, this book is valu-able for the novice entering the field—-itputs some initial discoveries and con-cepts in perspective. This text also givesthe research scientist or agronomist whouses these products regularly a historicalcontext. It describes the chain of eventsthat has allowed us to identify, produce.

and exploit specific aspects of these lowlymicrobes to develop effective microbialagents to control pest populations. Therewill always be big flea.s. This text suggeststhere will also always be more little fleasthat can be exploited for our purposes.

CARL LOWENBERGEKCarl Lowenberger (e-mail:

clowciibc(^sfu.ca) works in the biologydepartment at Simon Fraser University

in Burnaby, British Columbia.

doi:10.IMl/R58{)314liidude this information when citing this material.

EXPLORING THEORETICALMORPHOSPACES

The Geometry of Evolution: AdaptiveLandscapes and Theoretical Morpho-spaces. George R. McGhee. CambridgeUniversity Press, New York, 2006. 212pp., illus. $75.00 (ISBN 9780521849425cloth).

I n The Geometry of Evolution: AdaptiveLandscapes and Theoretical Morpho-

spaces, author Ceorge McGhee visual-izes evolution by natural selection as ajourney across a fitness landscape con-sisting of hills, mountains, and ravines, insearch of some optimal solution for anorganism that must adapt to certain en-vironmental conditions. This fascinat-ing metaphor is an interesting approachto studying evolutionary processes, onethat leads naturally to the developmentof mathematical theories about how or-ganisms adapt to a changing environ-ment and how morphogenesis is linkedto evolution.

In chapter 2, McGhee discusses themodeling of natural selection in adaptivelandscapes, referring to the work ofKauffman (1993,1995). But McGhee andKauffman take different approaches. InThe Origins of Order, Kaui'finan (1993)presented mathematical models of afitness landscape, then, on the basis ofsimulated results, visualized the land-scapes in accordance with variousparameters. The models discussed byMcChee in chapter 2, however, are not

www.hiosciencemag.org March 2008 / Voi 58 No. 3 • BioScience 271

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mathematical—they are conceptualmodeis of how an adaptive landscapemight look.

In chapter 3, on modeling evolution-ary phenomena in adaptive landscapes,McCihee reproduces a fascinating illus-tration from Signs of Life: How Com-plexity Pervades Biology (Sole andGoodwin 2000) that shows how an adap-tive landscape might look for extincttrilobites from the Palaeozoic era. Everypeak in the landscape corresponds tosome beautiful trilobite morphology. Un-fortunately, the landscape is not based onmeasurements—it is entirely conceptual.Although it is not entirely straightfor-ward to visualize the fitness landscapefor extinct trilobites, it would have beeninstructive for McGhee to show not onlyconceptual models but also a mathe-matical mode! of an adaptive landscape,as Kauffman did in Tlw Origins of Order.

Yet when trying to explore the adaptivelandscapes of such a mathematicalmodel, many questions need to be an-swered. Two key ones are. How can thefitness of an individual be determined?and How can the multiparameter spacesof an adaptive landscape be visualized?Exploring these questions is a worthy re-search endeavor in itself.

In chapter 4, McGhee introduces theconcept of theoretical morphospaces,which he defines as /i-dimensional geo-metric hyperspaces produced by sys-tematically varying the parameter valuesof a geometric model of form. The mostfamous theoretical morphospace is theone constructed for molUisk shells byRaup (1966). In Raup'spaper, a range ofhypothetical mollusk shell morpholo-gies was visualized as a function of thenumber of parameters controlling themorphology of the shell. A pioneeringpublication in many ways, this paper wasthe first to introduce the concept of mor-phospaces. In this early application ofscientific visualization, the results of amathematical model were visualized ona computer screen even before the fieldof computer graphics existed!

A general problem with morphospacesis that the underlying mathematicalmodel is based largely on just a descrip-tion ofthe organism's form. In the mol-lusk morphospace, the morphology of

the shell is controlled by parameters suchas the whorl expansion rate and the trans-lation rate ofthe shell. The advantage ofsuch a description is that the shells mor-phology can easily be captured by a smallpiece of computer code; the disadvantageis that these parameters do not neces-sarily have a connection with the devel-opmental process. McGhee's book wouldhave been more interesting with examplesof a connection being made between theunderlying developmental gene reg-ulatory networks and the form of anorganism. There exist among the echin-oderms some beautifui examples of how

modeis of growth and form. McGheehas made a courageous attempt to de-velop a mathematicai theory connectingmodeis of morphogenesis and evolution,and his book offers an opportunity tolearn about the enormous diversity ofpalaeontoiogicai examples of evolution.He has done a very good job in bringingall this material together in one book,and I wouid recommend The Geometryof Evolution to anyone interested inmorphogenesis and evolution. Mathe-maticians and computer scientists in par-ticular will find that the book poses manyinteresting questions.

jTjhe book intrigues, enticing readers to ask new research questions: Can we develop

mathematical models of growth and form that are useful for investigating the role of natural

selection in evolution? What do these adaptive landscapes look like? Do many possible sohitions

exist in evolution, or does the evolutionary process converge on a few choice answers?

rewiring regulatory networks that controlthe body plan can resuit in a sea urchinor a starfish (Davidson 2006).

McGhee states on page 61 that in manycases, creating a mathematical model ofgrowth is not very difficult—it "simplyrequires a little thought." It is ciear thathere, McGhee is referring to simpie geo-metrical descriptions of form. To any-one who has ever worked on modelinggrovrth and form (e.g., gene regulationand ceil movement), McGhee's statementmust sound strange. An interesting topicfor his next book might be the con-struction of morphospaces that are basedon physical—or biologically relevant-parameters. In the literature on bacterialcolonies, for instance, there are manyexamples of morphospaces (some withthe form of phase diagrams). Kawasakiand colleagues (1997), for example,provided a diagram that shows themorphoiogy of a bacterial colony as afunction of two bJologicaliy reievantparameters (concentration of nutrientand density ofthe agar medium).

Regardiess of the shortcomings ofdescriptive and conceptual models, TheGeometry of Evolution does provide an ex-cellent overview ofthe roie of theoreticalmorpiiospaces and adaptive landscapes in

Visualizing n-dimensional parameterspaces and adaptive iandscapes is highlyrelevant to optimization problems and agood example of the challenge of infor-mation visualization. Finally, the bookintrigues, enticing readers to ask new re-search questions: Can we develop math-emafical models of growth and form thatare useful for investigating the role ofnatural selection in evolution? What dothese adaptive landscapes look like? Domany possible soiutions exist in evolu-tion, or does the evolutionary processconverge on a few choice answers? Thereader who is open to such questionswili find much here to stimulate reflectionand experimentation.

lAAP A. KAANDORPJaap A. Kaandorp (e-mail:

jaapk@science.tiva.iit) is an associateprofessor in computational hiology in

the computational science section,Faculty of Science, University of

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

References citedDavidson EH. 2006. The Regulatory Genome: Gene

Regulatory Networks in Developmcnl and

Evolution. San Diego: Academic Press.

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Kauffinan SA. 1993. The Origins of Order: Self-

organization and Selection in Evolution. New

York: Oxford University Press.

. 1995. At Home in the Universe: The Search

for the Laws of Self-organization and Com-

plexity. NewYork: Oxford University Press.

Kawasaki K, Mochizuki A, Matsushita M, Umeda

T, Shigesada N. 1997. Modeling spatio-

temporal patterns generated by Bacillus subtitis.

Journal of Theoretical Biology 188: 177-185.

Raup DM. 1966. Theoretical morphology ofthe

coiled shelL Science 147:1294-1295.

Soi^ R, Goodwin B. 2000. Signs of Life: How

Complexity Pervades Biology. NewYork: Basic

Books.

iioi:l0.164l/B5a03l5include this information when citing this material.

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