Editor's Summary
25 January 2007
Missing links recreated
Despite the plethora of modern genetic tools, something that is little changed since Darwin's time is our reliance on evolutionary outcomes to unravel the process of evolution. The lack of evolutionary intermediates leaves the door ajar for the proponents of intelligent design. But a new technique could help fill the gaps. It involves the construction of evolutionary intermediates in the lab, and the search for viable paths between them. The resulting 'fitness landscapes' map viable routes between accessible evolutionary paths.
Progress: Empirical fitness landscapes reveal accessible evolutionary paths
Frank J. Poelwijk, Daniel J. Kiviet, Daniel M. Weinreich & Sander J. Tans
doi:10.1038/nature05451
