Evo-Devo: Variations on Ancestral Themes

Evo-Devo: Variations on Ancestral Themes

Most animals evolved from a common ancestor, Urbilateria, which already had in place the developmental genetic networks for shaping body plans. Comparative genomics has revealed rather unexpectedly that many of the genes present in bilaterian animal ancestors were lost by individual phyla during evolution. Reconstruction of the archetypal developmental genomic tool-kit present in Urbilateria wi...

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....

Whither plant evo-devo?

Evo-devo discovers morphology

constructive points. A critical examination is made of FA’s strength and weaknesses in comparison with other biomarkers, and ways to improve FA as a bio-indicator are suggested. As a whole, Developmental Instability is a mature and balanced compilation of an important subject in biology, which is, after all, about half a century old. Michal Polak has managed to combine excellent contributions o...

Evo-devo and constraints on selection.

Developmental bias, or genetic channeling, can influence the tempo and direction of evolution and, thus, become reflected in patterns of biodiversity. Twenty years ago, this notion rested on armchair descriptions of potential constraints on evolution. Now, a broad evo-devo approach involving both evolutionary and developmental genetics provides experimental analysis of such bias, revealing how ...