What do embryos tell us about evolution

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Jane Maienschein and an anonymous referee provided important comments on the manuscript. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Brian K. Reprints and Permissions. Hall, B.

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Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search all BMC articles Search. Download PDF. Volume 5 Supplement 2. Abstract Evolutionary developmental biology evo—devo is that part of biology concerned with how changes in embryonic development during single generations relate to the evolutionary changes that occur between generations.

Introduction Evolutionary developmental biology evo—devo is the name for that part of biology involved in understanding how alterations in the mechanisms of embryonic development influence or direct evolutionary changes in any and all stages of the life cycle. In his first paper on shark development, Francis Balfour argued for the role of selection in embryonic development as perhaps even more relevant for evolution than selection on the adult: I see no reason for doubting that the embryo in the earliest periods of development is as subject to the laws of natural selection as is the animal at any other period.

Origins of Evo-Devo I go back to the late nineteenth century when we find the origins of evo—devo in the research of individuals in England largely Trinity College, Cambridge and in Continental Europe. Reminiscing on his career, Bateson commented that Morphology was studied because it was the material believed to be the most favorable for the elucidation of the problems of evolution, and we all thought that in embryology the quintessence of morphological truth was most palpably presented.

The Twentieth Century Despite the valiant attempts of a handful of individual researchers through the first six decades of the twentieth century, linking embryos and evolution did not make a comeback until Stephen J. The Present Molecular genetics has revolutionized evo—devo over the past two decades. Box 1. A sample of evolutionary developmental mechanisms operating at various levels Gene Regulation, networks, interactions, genome size, epigenetic processes methylation, imprinting, chromosome inactivation Cell Division, migration, condensation, differentiation, interaction, patterning, morphogenesis, embryonic induction Tissue, organ Differentiation, specialization, embryonic inductions, epithelial—mesenchymal interactions, growth Organism Ontogenetic re-patterning, genetic assimilation, phenotypic plasticity, polymorphism, functional morphology Environment Phenotypic responses to chemicals released by predators, prey, and food supplies; temperature; crowding.

Integrated Mechanisms Integrated studies using molecular biology, molecular genetics, developmental biology, phylogenetics, paleontology, and molecular paleobiology are revealing previously unimagined information on how features change during evolution Erwin and Wing ; Hall ; Wilkins , ; Carroll et al. The Future Of course, it is impossible to tell what the future of evo—devo will be or what evo—devo will bring to the future.

Thus: Eco-evo—devo brings ecology into evo—devo Hall a ; Gilbert and Apel Devo—Evo Or it could be that evo—devo will be replaced by what has been called developmental evolution or devel-evol Hall ; Wagner Unification An expanded synthesis will be more than the modern synthesis plus evo—devo. Notes 1. References Abouheif E, Wray G. Google Scholar Arthur W. Google Scholar Averof M. Google Scholar Bateson W. Google Scholar Berrill NJ. Google Scholar Bertossa RC. Google Scholar Bowler PJ.

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Google Scholar Gehring WJ. Google Scholar Gilbert SF. Google Scholar Goldschmidt R. Google Scholar Gould SJ. Google Scholar Greene E. Google Scholar Hall BK. Google Scholar Huxley JS. Google Scholar Kosik KS. Google Scholar Laubichler MD. Google Scholar Maynard Smith J. Google Scholar Mayr E. Google Scholar Moazed D. Google Scholar Nijhout HF. Google Scholar Niklas KJ. Google Scholar Rieppel O. Google Scholar Waddington CH. Google Scholar Wagner GP.

Google Scholar Wilkins AS. Google Scholar Download references. Hall Authors Brian K. Hall View author publications. About this article Cite this article Hall, B. Copy to clipboard. Contact us Submission enquiries: Access here and click Contact Us General enquiries: info biomedcentral.

Regulation, networks, interactions, genome size, epigenetic processes methylation, imprinting, chromosome inactivation. Division, migration, condensation, differentiation, interaction, patterning, morphogenesis, embryonic induction. Differentiation, specialization, embryonic inductions, epithelial—mesenchymal interactions, growth.

An embryo is made from the first divisions of a fertilized egg and sperm cell. During early development, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a cat, a human, or a bat embryo. Scientists have figured out that species who evolved from a recent common ancestor have very similar patterns of embryonic growth and development. The same groups of cells develop in the same order for these species despite the fact that adult forms of the species look very different.

In this video, Teacher's Pet explains the embryological evidence for evolution. Embryology offers an inside look at the development of an organism.

An embryo of an organism is the fertilized egg as it goes through the processes of development that is specific to that species. When looking at how the animal develops from an embryo to an adult, you can compare the processes with those of other organisms to help determine evolutionary similarities. An embryo goes through a number of stages before it develops into a fetus and eventually into a living offspring.

Studying the structures that develop during an embryo's various stages of growth is called embryology and can be used to show the genetic similarities that suggest certain patterns of evolution. Most embryos look similar in their early stages, but as they develop, the differences between species become more obvious. Embryos of organisms that have a closer genetic relationship to one another tend to look similar for a longer period of time since they share a more recent common ancestor.

Email Facebook Twitter. Characters displayed by embryos such as these may help untangle patterns of relationship among the lineages. Image based on an original by Michael Richardson et al. Not recapitulation In the late s some scientists felt that ontogeny not only could reveal something about evolutionary history, but that it also preserved a step-by-step record of that history. Previous Evo-devo. Through the process of natural selection and survival of the fittest, certain traits are more likely to be inherited than other traits.

Embryology is the study and analysis of embryos. Evidence of an evolutionary common ancestor is seen in the similarity of embryos in markedly different species. Darwin used the science of embryology to support his conclusions. Embryos and the development of embryos of various species within a class are similar even if their adult forms look nothing alike. For instance, chicken embryos and human embryos look similar in the first few stages of embryonic development.

These early similarities are attributed to the 60 percent of protein-coding genes that humans and chickens inherited from a common ancestor. Kowalevsky suggested that sea squirts called tunicates should be classified as chordates instead of mollusks because tunicate larvae have notochords and form neural tubes, making them more like chordates and vertebrate embryos.

DNA analysis of the tunicate genome has since proven Kowalevsky correct.