Endless forms most beautiful

Title Endless forms most beautiful
the new science of evo devo and the making of the animal kingdom
Author Sean B. Carroll
Publication Norton
Size XI, 350p
Language ENG ENG
ISBN 9780393327793
Topics Evolution (Biology)--Developmental
Evolutionary genetics
Developmental biology
Notes presents a summary of the emerging field of evolutionary developmental biology and the role of toolkit genes. It has won numerous awards for science communication. The book's somewhat controversial argument is that evolution in animals (though no doubt similar processes occur in other organisms) proceeds mostly by modifying the way that regulatory genes, which do not code for structural proteins (such as enzymes), control embryonic development. In turn, these regulatory genes turn out to be based on a very old set of highly conserved genes which Carroll nicknames the toolkit. Almost identical sequences can be found across the animal kingdom, meaning that toolkit genes such as Hox must have evolved before the Cambrian radiation which created most of the animal body plans that exist today. These genes are used and reused, occasionally by duplication but far more often by being applied unchanged to new functions. Thus the same signal may be given at a different time in development, in a different part of the embryo, creating a different effect on the adult body. In Carroll's view, this explains how so many body forms are created with so few structural genes. [wikipedia]
571.85
CARR 5
46716
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