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Evo-devo: the evolution of a new discipline

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 1, pages 74–79 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

The history of life documented in the fossil record shows that the evolution of complex organisms such as animals and plants has involved marked changes in morphology, and the appearance of new features. However, evolutionary change occurs not by the direct transformation of adult ancestors into adult descendants but rather when developmental processes produce the features of each generation in an evolving lineage. Therefore, evolution cannot be understood without understanding the evolution of development, and how the process of development itself biases or constrains evolution. A revolutionary synthesis of developmental biology and evolution is in progress.

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Figure 1: Hox gene expression in the evolution of snakes — a dramatic modification of the vertebrate body axis.
Figure 2: Polymorphism in the development of horns in the male dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus.
Figure 3: Evolution of developmental mode in closely related species.

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Acknowledgements

I thank T. Frankino and K. Wilson for helpful discussions and suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana Molecular Biology Institute and Department of Biology, Indiana University, Jordan Hall, 1001 East Third Street, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Rudolf A. Raff

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  1. Rudolf A. Raff
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Additional information

Stephen J Gaunt, Babraham Institute, Babraham, Cambridge, UK

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Faculty research interests at the University of Indiana

Evolution and Development

Raff lab homepage

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES

Evolutionary developmental biology: Homologous regulatory genes and processes

Glossary

CLADISTICS

An approach to inferring evolutionary relationships among organisms, on the basis of identifying shared features among diverging clades.

HOX CLUSTER

A group of linked regulatory genes involved in patterning the animal body axis during development.

MACRO-EVOLUTION

Evolutionary change above the species level. Evolutionary changes in populations within a species are termed micro-evolution.

METAZOANS

Multicellular animals.

ONTOGENY

The course of development in an organism from embryo to adult.

PHYLOGENETICS

The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms.

TETRAPOD

Four-legged vertebrate animals.

FIXATION (OF AN ALLELE)

When an allele replaces all other alleles in a population, so that its frequency is equal to one (that is, 100%).

EPIGENETICS

Events in development that depend on interactions with other parts of an embryo or the environment.

HALTERES

In Diptera (true flies), the second or hind wings have become modified into a pair of club-like balancing organs called halteres.

SOMITES

Axial blocks of mesoderm along the vertebrate body axis that further differentiate into dermal skin, bone and muscle.

PROTOSTOME/DEUTEROSTOME

The two principal divisions of animal phyla, based on how the mouth forms in the embryo.

BASAL MEMBERS

Lineages or branches that diverge at the base of a phylogenetic tree; more primitive lineages.

BILATERIAN

Animals with bilateral body symmetry.

CNIDARIANS

Radially symmetric animals such as jelly fish, corals, hydra and anemonies.

CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION

The rapid diversification of animal life observed in the fossil record in rocks of early-mid Cambrian age (540–530 million years ago). Many of the major phyla that characterize modern animal life evolved at this time.

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Raff, R. Evo-devo: the evolution of a new discipline. Nat Rev Genet 1, 74–79 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35049594

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