Forms of Becoming

by Minelli, Alessandro

• ISBN13: 9780691135687
• ISBN10: 0691135681
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-03-23
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

What comes first, form or function? Trumpeted as the future of biological science, evolutionary developmental biology (or "evo-devo") answers this fundamental question by showing how evolution controls the development of organisms. In Forms of Becoming, Alessandro Minelli, a leading international figure in the field, takes an in-depth and comprehensive look at the history and key issues of evo-devo. Spirited and insightful, this book focuses on the innovative ways animal organisms evolve through competition and cooperation.Minelli provides a complete overview of conceptual developments--from the fierce nineteenth-century debates between the French biologists Geoffroy and Cuvier, who fought over questions of form versus function--to modern theories of how genes dictate body formation. The book's wide-ranging topics include expression patterns of genes, developmental bias, the role of developmental genes, and genetic determinism. Drawing from diverse examples, such as the anatomy of butterflies, giraffes, Siamese twins, and corals, Minelli extends and reformulates important concepts from development, evolution, and the interplay between the two.Presenting the accessible and cutting-edge ideas of evolutionary developmental biology,Forms of Becomingis fascinating reading for anyone interested in genetics and the animal form.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Forms and Numbers
Unity in Diversity	p. 3
Two Skeletons	p. 3
Clashes at the Museacute;um	p. 5
Squid and Vertebrate	p. 7
Topsy-turvy	p. 9
Archetypes	p. 11
The Primeval Plant	p. 11
A Skeleton for Everyone	p. 14
An Exemplary Crayfi sh	p. 16
Easy Numbers, Forbidden Numbers	p. 18
The Scolopendra's Legs	p. 18
The Nonexistent Variant	p. 22
The Leech's Segments	p. 23
Unexpected Arithmetic	p. 24
The Giraffe's Neck	p. 28
Indirect Effects	p. 29
On the Fingers of One Hand	p. 32
Number and Position	p. 35
Privileged Genes	p. 38
Unity of Body Plan	p. 38
The Universal Appendage	p. 42
The Zootype	p. 45
Position and Structure	p. 48
"Master Control Genes"	p. 50
Networks	p. 53
Constructing Form
Evolution and Development	p. 59
Genes and Determinism	p. 59
Possible Butterfl ies, Real Butterflies	p. 63
Evo-devo	p. 65
The Logic of Development	p. 68
From Mechanics to Molecules	p. 68
The Lawfulness of "Monsters"	p. 70
A Worm Enters the Scene	p. 72
A Mosaic, or Perhaps Not	p. 75
One Model, Several Models	p. 76
The Adult's Questionable Uniqueness	p. 77
Boxed Generations	p. 78
According to Program	p. 80
Cuticle, Cuticles	p. 81
Cilia and Mitosis	p. 86
Taking Development Seriously	p. 89
Ontogeny and Phylogeny	p. 90
Paradigm Shifts	p. 94
Science and Language	p. 94
Gene, Genes	p. 95
Busillis	p. 97
Tissues	p. 99
More on Segments	p. 101
Origin, Form, and Function	p. 103
Parallel Worksites	p. 105
What Do We Start From?	p. 107
Which Adult?	p. 109
Siamese Twins and Corals	p. 111
Spare Parts	p. 113
Comparisons	p. 117
Horns and Antlers	p. 117
Homology	p. 119
One Gene, Several Effects	p. 121
Ars Combinatoria	p. 123
The Limits of Hierarchies	p. 125
Organs, Only When All Is Done	p. 127
Structures, Processes, and Developmental Stages	p. 129
The Body's Syntax	p. 132
From Tip to Toe	p. 132
The Dual Animal	p. 134
The Sea Urchin	p. 136
The Tapeworm	p. 137
Origins
Competition or Cooperation?	p. 145
Apologues and Metaphors	p. 145
The Species: From Inside and from Outside	p. 146
Butterfl ies and Sea Urchins	p. 148
Parasitoids	p. 150
Throw-Away Larvae	p. 150
Competition between Equals, or Not Quite	p. 154
Germ and Soma	p. 158
Authorized Competition among Equals	p. 161
A Virtual Mouth	p. 163
Embryonic Leafl ets	p. 165
Who Is Winning?	p. 167
One Egg, Several Embryos	p. 169
Two Twins, or Rather One	p. 170
Identical Twins, or Maybe Not	p. 171
The Pupa's Balance Sheet	p. 175
Competition and Cooperation: Two Sides of the Same Coin	p. 177
Everything Small	p. 178
Development in Stages	p. 180
Making and Remaking	p. 183
Many and All Equal, or Few and Different	p. 183
A Product of Factors	p. 186
Calculations without Error	p. 189
Broken Chains	p. 194
Co-option	p. 196
Buds and Appendages	p. 197
Innovations without Plans	p. 201
Regularity without a Program	p. 201
Inexpensive Symmetry	p. 201
Breaks in Symmetry	p. 204
The Origin of Evolutionary Novelties	p. 205
Modules	p. 208
A Glance at the Clock	p. 209
Epilogue	p. 211
Recommended Readings	p. 215
Index	p. 221
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.