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Summary: Genetic robustness and selection at the protein level for
synonymous codons
M. ARCHETTI
Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Introduction
Genetic robustness is the capacity of genotypes to
minimize the effects of mutations at the phenotypic
level. Mechanisms of genetic robustness are known at
different levels (De Visser et al., 2003): diploidy, for
example, masks recessive deleterious mutations in the
whole genome; dominance and gene duplication can be
seen as special cases of genetic robustness at the level of
single genes.
The evolution of genetic robustness is still a debated
question. The three main evolutionary explanations
(deVisser et al., 2003) mirror the positions of Fisher,
Haldane and Wright in their famous controversy over
the evolution of dominance (a special case of genetic
robustness at the level of a single gene). Robustness
may evolve as an adaptation that decreases the
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