Comprehending phenotypic plasticity in cancer and evolution

Organisms as well as cancer cells are adept at adapting to changes in the environment in which they find themselves, by actively adjusting their phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity is a quantitative trait that confers a fitness advantage to the organism by tailoring its phenotype to environmental circumstances. While it is generally held that new traits arise solely from genetic factors, emerging evidence indicates that phenotypic plasticity also plays a critical role both in cancer and evolution. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that underlie phenotypic plasticity can not only provide new insights into organismal evolution and the origin of novelty but can also result in novel strategies and therapeutics to treat cancer. Organisms as well as cancer cells are adept at adapting to changes in the environment in which they find themselves, by actively adjusting their phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity is a quantitative trait that confers a fitness advantage to the organism by tailoring its phenotype to environmental circumstances. While it is generally held that new traits arise solely from genetic factors, emerging evidence indicates that phenotypic plasticity also plays a critical role both in cancer and evolution. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that underlie phenotypic plasticity can not only provide new insights into organismal evolution and the origin of novelty but can also result in novel strategies and therapeutics to treat cancer. Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of individual genotypes to produce different phenotypes (phenotypic switching) in response to changes in the environment without involving genetic changes.Research in the field is burgeoning and an often-asked question is whether environmentally initiated phenotypic plasticity precedes and even facilitates adaptation, whether in evolution or in cancer.It seems obvious that although how populations of organisms and cancer cells respond to modified environmental conditions and adapt themselves is critical to their persistence, the role of phenotypic plasticity in adaptive evolution remains contentious.While some evolutionary biologists argue that phenotypic plasticity can impede adaptation by shifting the distribution of phenotypes in the population and hence, shielding it from natural selection, others believe phenotypic plasticity favors adaptive evolution.