Cracking open the blackbox of genotype–phenotype map: crossing the explanatory gap between micro- and macroevolution

Q: What does this research mean for the field?

Decomposing the genotype-phenotype map into distinct processes with different variational properties, such as morphogenesis, growth, and maintenance, is necessary to bridge the explanatory gap between micro- and macroevolution. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.METHODOLOGICAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.ESTABLISHES_NEW_DIRECTION.

Mihaela Pavličev

doi:10.1093/evolut/qpaf236

November 21, 2025EvolutionOpen Access

Cracking open the blackbox of genotype–phenotype map: crossing the explanatory gap between micro- and macroevolution

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Key Points

To establish a theoretical framework that connects population-level microevolutionary variation with macroevolutionary patterns by decomposing the genotype–phenotype map into distinct biological processes.
Formulated a conceptual model organizing the genotype-phenotype map by biological process types rather than static traits.
Categorized vertebrate developmental processes into morphogenesis, growth, and maintenance based on their variational properties.
Demonstrated that conserved macroevolutionary traits, such as body plans, define phenotypic boundaries that constrain how segregating genetic variation is expressed.
Showed that partitioning processes by their differing capacities to produce variation clarifies how natural selection drives long-term morphological change.

Implication

Perspective reveals a process-based genotype-phenotype mapping framework in vertebrates, suggesting a mechanism to bridge microevolutionary variation and macroevolutionary divergence.

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Cite This Study

Mihaela Pavličev (2025) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a1c1fd01567d2fc4d5fa11e https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpaf236

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Cracking open the blackbox of genotype–phenotype map: crossing the explanatory gap between micro- and macroevolution

Key Points

Implication

Discussion

Cite This Study

Cracking open the blackbox of genotype–phenotype map: crossing the explanatory gap between micro- and macroevolution

Key Points

Implication

Discussion

Cite This Study

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