Ectocarpus: an evo-devo model for the brown algae

Ectocarpus: a model organism for the brown algae.

The brown algae are an interesting group of organisms from several points of view. They are the dominant organisms in many coastal ecosystems, where they often form large, underwater forests. They also have an unusual evolutionary history, being members of the stramenopiles, which are very distantly related to well-studied animal and green plant models. As a consequence of this history, brown a...

An explanatory evo-devo model for the developmental hourglass

The "developmental hourglass'' describes a pattern of increasing morphological divergence towards earlier and later embryonic development, separated by a period of significant conservation across distant species (the "phylotypic stage''). Recent studies have found evidence in support of the hourglass effect at the genomic level. For instance, the phylotypic stage expresses the oldest and most c...

The evo-devo comet.

In his inspiring book Ontogeny and Phylogeny (1977), the late Stephen J. Gould explained why develop mental biology and evolution, two essential domains of the life sciences, had diverged during the course of the twentieth century; both disciplines had to reach independently a platform of mutual understanding, a theoretical framework wherein concepts are understood and accepted by both parties....

Emerging Model Organism Ectocarpus: A Model Organism for the Brown Algae

The brown algae are an interesting group of organisms from several points of view. They are the dominant organisms in many coastal ecosystems, where they often form large, underwater forests. They also have an unusual evolutionary history, being members of the stramenopiles, which are very distantly related to well-studied animal and green plant models. As a consequence of this history, brown a...

Whither plant evo-devo?