Cavefish as a Model System in Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Evolutionary developmental biology is the study of evolutionary change (called phylogeny) as it is revealed through the embryological development of individual organisms (called ontogeny). On this approach, the understanding of ontogeny contributes to our understanding of phylogeny, and vice versa. Evolutionary thinkers of the nineteenth century almost all held what may be called the core doctr...

Evolutionary crossroads in developmental biology.

The Ascidian as a Model Organism in Developmental and Evolutionary Biology

What Is an Ascidian? Ascidians, or sea squirts, are invertebrate chordates that belong to the earliest branch in the chordate phylum, the subphylum Urochordata or Tunicata (Figure 1A). Ascidian larvae possess a prototypical chordate body plan Joseph C. Corbo,1,3 Anna Di Gregorio,2 and Michael Levine2,3 Department of Pathology Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, Massa...

Bioinformatics for evolutionary developmental biology

Evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo)