Abstract

Abstract:

Phenotypic variation creates opportunities for natural selection to act. Conserved developmental pathways can shape the character of this phenotypic variation. This shaping is usually viewed as a negative constraint, where developmental conservation limits phenotypic variation. However, developmental conservation can also act to generate or potentiate phenotypic variation. Here, I will discuss an example from the grass family where deep conservation of leaf development genes likely underlies the evolution of a specialized organ elaboration called an awn. Grass awns have many hypothesized roles in grain development, grain dispersal, and seedling development; traits that contributed to the grass family’s tremendous ecological and agricultural success. Our comparative analyses of anatomy, morphology, development, and genetics reveal the conserved developmental mechanisms underlying the replicated evolution and diversification of an ecologically important trait. This work reveals how developmental constraint can facilitate morphological evolution.

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