Evolution and Development

The marriage of evolutionary biology with developmental biology has resulted in the formation of a new field, evolutionary developmental biology, or “evo-devo.” This volume reviews current research findings and thought in the broad field of evo-devo, looking at the developmental genetic mechanisms that cause variation and how alterations of these mechanisms can generate novel structural changes in a variety of plant and animal life.

Reviews current research findings and thought on evolutionary developmental biology, providing researchers an overview and synthesis of the latest research findings and contemporary thought in the areaIncludes chapters discussing the evolutionary development of a wide variety of organisms and allows researchers to compare and contrast how genes are expressed in a variety of organisms—from fly to frog, to humansEmphasizes the role of regulatory DNA in evolutionary development to give researchers perspective on how the regions of the genome that control gene expression and the protein factors that bind them are ultimately responsible for the diversity of life that has evolved

1. The Origin, Elaboration, and Radiation of Beetle Horns: Causes, Mechanisms, and Consequences
2. Regulation of mRNA translation and stability: the other cis-regulatory network in development and evolution
3. The role of Wnt signaling in the evolution of embryonic polarity
4. Patterning a spiralian embryo: cell lineage and signaling in the mollusc Ilyanassa
5. Evolution and Development of the Blind Cavefish Eye
6. Evolution of vertebrate appendage development
7. Gene regulatory networks in neural crest developmenta and evolution
8. New model systems for the study of developmental evolution in plants
9. Axis formation and the rapid evolutionary transformation of larval form