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A tooth, a toe, and a vertebra: The genetic dimensions of complex morphological traits
Author(s) -
Weiss Kenneth M.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
evolutionary anthropology: issues, news, and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1520-6505
pISSN - 1060-1538
DOI - 10.1002/evan.1360020407
Subject(s) - vertebrate , evolutionary biology , biology , anatomy , vertebra , genetics , gene
Most readers probably share with me the profoundly affecting experience of wandering through a natural history museum and being surrounded by the skeletal remains of our vertebrate predecessors. Who does not stand in awe before these scaffolds of the great dinosaurs or ponder the groping stages through which our primate ancestors explored the skeletal and dental opportunities of forest life (Fig. 1)? How did this proliferation of limbs, teeth, and vertebrae, not to mention the complexity we can infer about the overlying anatomy and physiology, arise from the simple early forms of animal life? How did DNA evolve to contain the program for such complexity?