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The variation in mandibular morphology of mammals reflects specialisations for different diets. Omnivorous and carnivorous mammals posses large mandibular coronoid processes, while herbivorous mammals have pro...
The evolution and development of sexual dimorphism illuminates a central question in biology: How do similar genomes produce different phenotypes? In an XX/XO system especially the state of a sexually dimorphi...
The longstanding canonical model of spider gastrulation posits that cell internalization occurs only at a unitary central blastopore; and that the cumulus (dorsal organizer) arises from within the early deep l...
Understanding how genes change during evolution to direct the development of diverse body plans is a major goal of the evo-devo field. Achieving this will require the establishment of new model systems that re...
Introns represent a potentially rich source of existing transcription for the evolution of novel microRNAs (miRNAs). Within the Hox gene clusters, a miRNA gene, miR-615, is located within the intron of the Hoxc5 ...
A notochord is characteristic of developing chordates (which comprise amphioxus, tunicates and vertebrates), and, more arguably, is also found in some other animals. Although notochords have been well reviewed...
In a recent study, we have demonstrated that amelotin (AMTN) gene structure and its expression during amelogenesis have changed during tetrapod evolution. Indeed, this gene is expressed throughout enamel matrix d...
The life cycle of many animals includes a larval stage, which has diversified into an astonishing variety of ecological strategies. The Nemertea is a group of spiralians that exhibits a broad diversity of larv...
The developmental basis of craniofacial morphology hinges on interactions of numerous signalling systems. Extensive craniofacial variation in the polymorphic Arctic charr, a member of the salmonid family, from...
Maximally indirect development via a pilidium larva is unique to the pilidiophoran clade of phylum Nemertea. All other nemerteans have more or less direct development. The origin of pilidial development with d...
A major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the origins of phenotypic diversity. Changes in development, for instance heterochrony, can be a potent source of phenotypic variation. On the other hand, ...
Gastrulation is a critical step in bilaterian development, directly linked to the segregation of germ layers, establishment of axes, and emergence of the through-gut. Theories about the evolution of gastrulati...
The metagenesis of sessile polyps into pelagic medusae in cnidarians represents one of the most ancient complex life cycles in animals. Interestingly, scyphozoans and hydrozoans generate medusae by apparently ...
Siphonophores (Hydrozoa) have unparalleled colony-level complexity, precision of colony organization, and functional specialization between zooids (i.e., the units that make up colonies). Previous work has sho...
Vertebrate somites are subdivided into lineage compartments, each with distinct cell fates and evolutionary histories. Insights into somite evolution can come from studying amphioxus, the best extant approxima...
The evolutionary origins of cell polarity in metazoan embryos are unclear. In most bilaterian animals, embryonic and cell polarity are set up during embryogenesis with the same molecules being utilized to regu...
Most of our current findings on appendage formation and patterning stem from studies on chordate and ecdysozoan model organisms. However, in order to fully understand the evolution of animal appendages, it is ...
Retinoic acid (RA) signaling controls many developmental processes in chordates, from early axis specification to late organogenesis. The functions of RA are chiefly mediated by a subfamily of nuclear hormone ...
Wnt signaling is one of the earliest and most highly conserved regulatory pathways for the establishment of the body axes during regeneration and early development. In regeneration, body axes determination occ...
Transcription factors that determine retinal development seem to be conserved in different phyla throughout the animal kingdom. In most representatives, however, only a few of the involved transcription factor...
Two visual systems are present in most arthropod groups: median and lateral eyes. Most of our current knowledge about the developmental and molecular mechanisms involved in eye formation in arthropods comes fr...
How adaptive phenotypes are shaped by the action of key developmental genes during ontogeny remains poorly understood. Water striders, a group of hemipteran insects, present a unique example of adaptation to l...
The molecular mechanisms underlying sex determination and differentiation in animals are incredibly diverse. The Dmrt (doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor) gene family is an evolutionary ancient grou...
The tardigrades (water bears) are a cosmopolitan group of microscopic ecdysozoans found in a variety of aquatic and temporarily wet environments. They are members of the Panarthropoda (Tardigrada + Onychophora...
Simple life cycles arise from complex life cycles when one or more developmental stages are lost. This raises a fundamental question - how can an intermediate stage, such as a larva, be removed, and developmen...
Brachiopods undergo radial cleavage, which is distinct from the stereotyped development of closely related spiralian taxa. The mesoderm has been inferred to derive from the archenteron walls following gastrula...
The urodele amphibians (salamanders) are the only adult tetrapods able to regenerate the limb. It is unclear if this is an ancestral property that is retained in salamanders but lost in other tetrapods or if i...
The limb and autopodium are frequently employed to study pattern formation during embryonic development, providing insights into how cells give rise to complex anatomical structures. With regard to the differe...
The ABC model of flower development describes the molecular basis for specification of floral organ identity in model eudicots such as Arabidopsis and Antirrhinum. According to this model, expression of C-class g...
The bat has strikingly divergent forelimbs (long digits supporting wing membranes) and hindlimbs (short, typically free digits) due to the distinct requirements of both aerial and terrestrial locomotion. Durin...
Within Malacostraca (Crustacea), direct development and development through diverse forms of larvae are found. Recent investigations suggest that larva-related developmental features have undergone heterochron...
Nodal is an important determinant of the left-right (LR) body axis in bilaterians, specifying the right side in protostomes and non-chordate deuterostomes as opposed to the left side in chordates. Amphioxus re...
The form that an animal takes during development is directed by gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Developmental GRNs interpret maternally deposited molecules and externally supplied signals to direct cell-fate ...
The cellular signaling mechanisms and morphogenic movements involved in axis formation and gastrulation are well conserved between vertebrates. In nearly all described fish, gastrulation and the initial patter...
Ctenophores have traditionally been treated as eumetazoans, but some recent whole genome studies have revived the idea that they are, rather, the sister group to all other metazoans. This deep branching positi...
The Solenogastres (or Neomeniomorpha) are a taxon of aplacophoran molluscs with contentious phylogenetic placement. Since available developmental data on non-conchiferan (that is, aculiferan) molluscs mainly s...
The independent origin and evolution of leaves as small, simple microphylls or larger, more complex megaphylls in plants has shaped and influenced the natural composition of the environment. Significant contri...
Two issues relating to the translocation of anterior Hox genes in echinoderms to the 5’ end of the Hox cluster are discussed: i) that developmental changes associated with fixation to the substratum have led to a...
Seahorses are well known for their highly derived head shape, prehensile tail and armoured body. They belong to the family of teleosts known as Syngnathidae, which also includes the pipefishes, pipehorses and ...
Hox genes are master regulatory genes that specify positional identities during axial development in animals. Discoveries regarding their concerted expression patterns have commanded intense interest due to th...
Developmental biology, as all experimental science, is empowered by technological advances. The availability of genetic tools in some species - designated as model organisms - has driven their use as major pla...
Lepidium sisymbrioides, a polyploid New Zealand endemic, is the sole dioecious species in Brassicaceae and therefore the closest dioecious relative of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The attractiveness of d...
Among the Lophotrochozoa, cephalopods possess the highest degree of central nervous system (CNS) centralization and complexity. Although the anatomy of the developing cephalopod CNS has been investigated, the ...
Understanding the molecular basis of craniofacial variation can provide insights into key developmental mechanisms of adaptive changes and their role in trophic divergence and speciation. Arctic charr (Salvelinus...
Metazoan digestive systems develop from derivatives of ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm, and vary in the relative contribution of each germ layer across taxa and between gut regions. In a small number of well-s...
Insect embryonic dorso-ventral patterning depends greatly on two pathways: the Toll pathway and the Bone Morphogenetic Protein pathway. While the relative contribution of each pathway has been investigated in ...
Proseriates (Proseriata, Platyhelminthes) are free-living, mostly marine, flatworms measuring at most a few millimetres. In common with many flatworms, they are known to be capable of regeneration; however, fe...
Although chordates descend from a segmented ancestor, the evolution of head segmentation has been very controversial for over 150 years. Chordates generally possess a segmented pharynx, but even though anatomi...
Enhanced food-finding efficiency is an obvious adaptive response to cave environments. Here, we have compared the food-finding abilities of Astyanax surface fish and blind cavefish young larvae in their first mon...
Multicellularity provides organisms with opportunities for cell-type specialization, but requires novel mechanisms to position correct proportions of different cell types throughout the organism. Dictyostelid ...
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