Developmental Modularity, and Evolvability of the Head Skeleton

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Charles Kimmel (University of Oregon)
• Wednesday 30 October 2013, 13:00-14:00
• Part II Lecture Theatre, Department of Zoology.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Jeremy Solly.

Development “structures the phenotypic variation upon which selection acts” (B. Hallgrimsson), and hence could significantly influence evolvability. What is the nature of the structuring? From studies of bone shaping in zebrafish larvae, I’ll argue that skull morphogenesis exhibits modularity; semi-autonomous development of separate regions of bone controlled by different intercellular signals. Modularity might influence evolvability; for example different modules could separately evolve distinctive new shapes. We tested this hypothesis with stickleback, and, in support, found examples in the skull where evolutionary changes in bone shape strikingly predict the locations of module boundaries. Finally, I’ll describe our studies of a zebrafish mutation where developmental structuring of a module dramatically breaks down, yielding a largely unpredictable variety of bone shapes. Following Waddington and others we suggest that this phenotypic instability is due to loss of buffering (or “canalizing”) mechanisms, that seem to involve the epigenome. Learning more about these mechanisms may yield insight into how novel morphologies evolve.

This talk is part of the Evolution and Development Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Biology
• Centre for Health Leadership and Enterprise
• DevBio
• Evolution and Development Seminar Series
• Featured lists
• Graduate-Seminars
• Life Sciences
• Life Sciences
• ME Seminar
• Museums in Cambridge
• Neurons, Fake News, DNA and your iPhone: The Mathematics of Information
• PMRFPS's
• Part II Lecture Theatre, Department of Zoology
• ji247's list
• my_list
• other talks

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.