Opinion in 2007

Evo–devo is now a mature field encompassing a wide range of research areas. The author offers his assessment of its main theoretical implications and challenges for the immediate future.

Copy number variation constitutes a major source of inter-individual genetic variation that could explain variable disease penetrance and variation in the phenotypic expression of aneuploidies, and could be an important factor in the aetiology of complex traits. Therefore, systematic exploration of both single nucleotide and copy number variation will be key to identifying the genomic contributors to polygenic traits and diseases.

The prevailing view is that planar cell polarity is the outcome of one genetic pathway. On the basis of their observations in genetically mosaic adult flies, the authors challenge this assumption and discuss potentially far-reaching implications of their model.

Some structures, such as mammalian forelimbs and bird wings, are obviously homologous, but the basis of this is often elusive as the developmental genes involved are not homologous. The author argues that it is instead the gene regulatory networks that are homologous.

Evo–devo has inherited its model organisms from developmental biology. New models must now be chosen to study important phenomena that the original models do not represent. The authors discuss the best criteria for choosing new models.

Standardization and mass production have been invaluable in biological software, but what about accommodating the specific needs of different experiments? The authors propose a method for generating such customized software infrastructures from existing parts.

This article argues that recombination has a far more important role in the evolution of plant genomes than is currently appreciated, and that genome-wide patterns of recombination might explain some intriguing differences between plant and animal genomes.