The Phenotype Paradox: Lessons From Natural Transcriptome Evolution on How to Engineer Plants

Plants have revealed the tremendous potential for TF duplication and expression divergence to drive phenotype evolution. Similarly, for thousands of years crop breeders have sought out phenotypes that enhance yield, with many of these traits driven by TF rewiring. Advances in genomics and systems biology now afford us with the tools to study plant transcriptomes in tremendous detail and early experimental rewiring reveals a commonality in TFs that make good rewiring targets. The fascinating and complex polyploid genomes of crops, such as wheat, demonstrate not only a tolerance to TF rewiring but also offer up multiple TF sequences that can be targeted to drive selective improvement of such crops to specific environmental stresses.

Note that “evolution” here means “micro-evolution” which is adaptation to the environment.  Indeed the biological systems have robust built-in adaptability mechanisms.   Common design.