Costs of plasticity are thought to have important physiological and evolutionary consequences. A commonly predicted cost to plasticity is that plastic genotypes are likely to suffer from developmental instability. Adaptive plasticity requires that the developing organism can in some way sense what environment it is in or how well it is performing in that environment. These two information pathways—an “environmental signal” or a “performance signal” that indicates how well a developing phenotype matches the optimum in the current environment—can differ in their consequences for the organism and its evolution. Here, we consider how developmental instability might emerge as a side‐effect of these two distinct mechanisms. Because a performance cue allows a regulatory feedback loop connecting a trait to a feedback signal, we hypothesized that plastic genotypes using a performance signal would be more developmentally robust compared to those using a purely environmental signal. Using a numerical model of a network of gene interactions, we show that plasticity comes at a cost of developmental instability when the plastic response is mediated via an environmental signal, but not when it is mediated via a performance signal. We also show that a performance signal mechanism can evolve even in a constant environment, leading to genotypes preadapted for plasticity to novel environments even in populations without a history of environmental heterogeneity.

中文翻译：

---

通过反馈可塑性降低了开发不稳定的成本

人们认为可塑性的成本具有重要的生理和进化后果。通常预测的可塑性损失是，塑料基因型可能会遭受发育不稳定的困扰。适应性可塑性要求发育中的生物体可以某种方式感知其所处的环境或在该环境中的运行状况。这两个信息路径（一个“环境信号”或“性能信号”，表明正在发展的表型与当前环境中的最佳匹配程度如何）对生物体及其进化的影响可能不同。在这里，我们考虑如何将发展不稳定性作为这两种不同机制的副作用而出现。由于性能提示允许规范性反馈回路将性状连接到反馈信号，我们假设与使用纯环境信号的塑料基因型相比，使用性能信号的塑料基因型在发育上更加稳健。使用基因相互作用网络的数值模型，我们表明，当可塑性响应是通过环境信号介导时，可塑性是以发展不稳定为代价的，而当不是通过性能信号介导时，则不是。我们还表明，即使在恒定的环境中，性能信号机制也可以进化，从而导致即使在没有环境异质性历史的人群中，基因型也容易适应新环境的可塑性。我们表明，当通过环境信号介导塑性响应时，而不是通过性能信号介导塑性响应时，可塑性是以发展不稳定为代价的。我们还表明，即使在恒定的环境中，性能信号机制也可以进化，从而导致即使在没有环境异质性历史的人群中，基因型也容易适应新环境的可塑性。我们表明，当通过环境信号介导塑性响应时，而不是通过性能信号介导塑性响应时，可塑性是以发展不稳定为代价的。我们还表明，即使在恒定的环境中，性能信号机制也可以进化，从而导致即使在没有环境异质性历史的人群中，基因型也容易适应新环境的可塑性。