Deep homology and the origins of evolutionary novelty

Neil Shubin, Cliff Tabin and Sean Carroll
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Neil Shubin: University of Chicago
Cliff Tabin: Harvard Medical School
Sean Carroll: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Nature, 2009, vol. 457, issue 7231, 818-823

Abstract: Abstract Do new anatomical structures arise de novo, or do they evolve from pre-existing structures? Advances in developmental genetics, palaeontology and evolutionary developmental biology have recently shed light on the origins of some of the structures that most intrigued Charles Darwin, including animal eyes, tetrapod limbs and giant beetle horns. In each case, structures arose by the modification of pre-existing genetic regulatory circuits established in early metazoans. The deep homology of generative processes and cell-type specification mechanisms in animal development has provided the foundation for the independent evolution of a great variety of structures.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07891

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