The Origin of Animal Body Plans: A Study in Evolutionary Developmental Biology

by Wallace Arthur

• ISBN13: 9780521779289
• ISBN10: 0521779286
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

While neo-Darwinism has considerable explanatory power, it is widely recognized as lacking a component dealing with individual development, or ontogeny. This lack is particularly conspicuous when attempting to explain the evolutionary origin of the thirty-five or so animal body plans, and of the developmental trajectories that generate them. This significant work examines both the origin of body plans in particular and the evolution of animal development in general. Wallace Arthur ranges widely in his treatment, covering topics as diverse as comparative developmental genetics, selection theory, and Vendian/Cambrian fossils. He places particular emphasis on gene duplication, changes in spatio-temporal gene-expression patterns, internal selection, coevolution of interacting genes, and coadaptation. The book will be of particular interest to students and researchers in evolutionary biology, genetics, paleontology, and developmental biology.

Table of Contents

Preface	x
Preface to the Paperback Edition	xiii
Introduction	1	(23)
A Developmental Approach to an Evolutionary Problem	1	(2)
The Early History of the Animal Kingdom	3	(5)
Alternative Strategies	8	(1)
Creation versus Destruction	9	(2)
Systematics and the Concept of Natural Classification	11	(5)
Micromutation versus Macromutation	16	(2)
Developing Organisms as Inverted Cones	18	(6)
What Is a Body Plan?	24	(27)
Body Plans and Taxonomic Levels	24	(5)
Body Plans, Cladograms and Homology	29	(9)
Body Plans and Embryology	38	(4)
Body Plans, Genes and Mutations	42	(4)
Body Plans, Adaptation and Environments	46	(5)
Patterns of Body Plan Origins	51	(30)
Strategy	51	(1)
Patterns of Metazoan Interrelationships	52	(11)
Early Fossils: from Cladograms to Trees	63	(8)
Bringing Back Morphology	71	(6)
Palaeoecology and Possible Adaptive Scenarios	77	(4)
Evolutionary Developmental Biology	81	(20)
From Pattern to Mechanism	81	(2)
The Aims of Evolutionary Developmental Biology	83	(2)
A Brief History	85	(8)
Is There a Theory of Development?	93	(8)
Developmental Mechanisms: Cells and Signals	101	(25)
Strategy	101	(1)
Cellular Processes and Architecture	102	(5)
Short-range Signals: Cell-Cell Contacts	107	(4)
Mid-range Signals and the Nature of `Morphogens'	111	(5)
Long-range Signals and Panorganismic Coordination	116	(4)
Patterns of Interconnection: Developmental Programmes	120	(6)
Developmental Mechanisms: Genes	126	(23)
Introduction	126	(1)
Overview of the Genetics of Drosophila Body Axes	127	(9)
The Antennapedia and Bithorax Complexes	136	(7)
The hedgehog Gene and Limb Development	143	(3)
Developmental Programmes and an Evolutionary Message	146	(3)
Comparative Developmental Genetics	149	(33)
From Development to Evolution	149	(2)
Phylogeny of Hox Genes	151	(18)
Dorsoventral Polarity in Arthropods and Chordates	169	(2)
Limb Formation, hedgehog, and the Nature of Homology	171	(6)
Phylogeny of Cadherin Genes	177	(2)
Emergent Evolutionary Messages	179	(3)
Gene Duplication and Mutation	182	(27)
Introduction	182	(2)
The Creation of New Genes	184	(4)
Mutation: the Classical Approach	188	(6)
Mutation: a Developmental Approach	194	(9)
Mutation and the Evolution of Development	203	(6)
The Spread of Variant Ontogenies in Populations	209	(31)
Introduction	209	(3)
Population Genetic Models of Directional Selection	212	(6)
Internal Selection	218	(8)
The Origin of Body Plans: a Population Perspective	226	(11)
Types of Genetic Change	237	(1)
Drift, Drive and Directed Mutation	238	(2)
Creation Versus Destruction	240	(16)
A Fourth `Eternal Metaphor'?	240	(3)
Mutationists versus Selectionists: a Protracted Debate	243	(4)
The Structure of Morphospace	247	(6)
Creation and Destruction	253	(3)
Ontogeny and Phylogeny Revisited	256	(29)
Mapping the Two Hierarchies	256	(3)
From Two Hierarchies to Six	259	(5)
An Important General Pattern	264	(7)
Larval Forms and Complex Life Histories	271	(6)
Phenotypic Complexity and Evolutionary `Explosions'	277	(8)
Prospect: Expanding The Synthesis	285	(12)
Neither Boredom nor Heresy	285	(1)
Completing the Evolutionary Circle	286	(5)
The Main Themes of Evolutionary Developmental Biology	291	(2)
Paths into the Future	293	(4)
References	297	(37)
Index	334