RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 How development affects evolution JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2021.10.20.464947 DO 10.1101/2021.10.20.464947 A1 Mauricio González-Forero A1 Andy Gardner YR 2022 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/04/2021.10.20.464947.abstract AB Natural selection acts on developmentally constructed phenotypes. Ever since the modern synthesis, many researchers have called for integration of development into evolution, but there has been a lack of general mathematical frameworks explicitly integrating the two. This has likely inhibited understanding of the evolutionary effects of development. Here we use a new mathematical framework that integrates development into evolution to analyse how development affects evolution. We show that, whilst selection pushes genetic and phenotypic evolution up the fitness landscape, development determines the admissible evolutionary pathway, such that evolutionary outcomes occur at path peaks rather than landscape peaks. Changes in development can generate path peaks, triggering adaptive radiations, even on constant, single-peak landscapes. Phenotypic plasticity, niche construction, extra-genetic inheritance, and developmental bias alter the evolutionary path and hence the outcome. Thus, extra-genetic inheritance can have permanent evolutionary effects by changing development and so the evolutionary path, even if extra-genetically acquired elements are not transmitted to future generations. Selective development, whereby phenotype construction points in the adaptive direction, may induce adaptive or maladaptive evolution depending on the developmental constraints. Moreover, developmental propagation of phenotypic effects over age enables the evolution of negative senescence. Overall, we find that development plays a major evolutionary role.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.