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The molecular evolution of development
Author(s) -
Purugganan Michael D.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(199809)20:9<700::aid-bies3>3.0.co;2-k
Subject(s) - evolutionary biology , biology , evolutionary developmental biology , developmental genetics , biological evolution , diversification (marketing strategy) , molecular evolution , human evolutionary genetics , gene , phylogenetics , genetics , regulation of gene expression , marketing , business
Morphological differences between species, from simple single‐character differences to large‐scale variation in body plans, can be traced to changes in the timing and location of developmental events. This has led to a growing interest in understanding the genetic basis behind the evolution of developmental systems. Molecular evolutionary genetics provides one of several approaches to dissecting the evolution of developmental systems, by allowing us to reconstruct the history of developmental genetic pathways, infer the origin and diversification of developmental gene functions, and assess the relative contributions of various evolutionary forces in shaping regulatory gene evolution. BioEssays 20 :700–711, 1998. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.