Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 104, Issue -, Pages 8590-8596Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0701044104
Keywords
developmental evolution; parallel evolution
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The extent to which developmental constraints in complex organisms restrict evolutionary directions remains contentious. Yet, other forms of internal constraint, which have received less attention, may also exist. It will be argued here that a set of partial constraints below the level of phenotypes, those involving genes and molecules, influences and channels the set of possible evolutionary trajectories. At the top-most organizational level there are the genetic network modules, whose operations directly underlie complex morphological traits. The properties of these network modules, however, have themselves been set by the evolutionary history of the component genes and their interactions. Characterization of the components, structures, and operational dynamics of specific genetic networks should lead to a better understanding not only of the morphological traits they underlie but of the biases that influence the directions of evolutionary change. Furthermore, such knowledge may permit assessment of the relative degrees of probability of short evolutionary trajectories, those on the micro-evolutionary scale. In effect, a network perspective may help transform evolutionary biology into a scientific enterprise with greater predictive capability than it has hitherto possessed.
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