Janies D, DeSalle R
Invertebrates Department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, NY 10024-5192, USA.
Anat Rec. 1999 Feb 15;257(1):6-14. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0185(19990215)257:1<6::AID-AR4>3.0.CO;2-I.
The cloning of genes involved in pathways fundamental to morphogenesis has opened the door to visualizing expression of developmental regulatory genes in many organisms. Expression data have become technical commonplace in analysis of mutants of Drosophila melanogaster and a handful of other genetic model systems. Many researchers have used probes and extended the logic from studies of D. melanogaster for comparisons of expression patterns to infer developmental bases for homologous structures among animals with diverse body plans. This research program has led to exciting but sweeping generalizations about how development evolves. Here we examine several underlying assumptions of this approach in terms of comparative and historical biology. First, we evaluate the logic that underlies the equation of gene expression similarity with homologous morphology. Second, we examine epistemological issues surrounding the descriptive visualization of gene expression patterns. We conclude by examining the role of phylogenetic coding and mapping of these patterns to examine the evolution of complex gene regulatory networks.
参与形态发生基本途径的基因克隆，为可视化许多生物体中发育调控基因的表达打开了大门。在对黑腹果蝇及其他一些遗传模型系统的突变体分析中，表达数据已成为技术上的常规操作。许多研究人员使用探针，并扩展了黑腹果蝇研究中的逻辑，用于比较表达模式，以推断具有不同身体结构的动物同源结构的发育基础。这个研究项目引发了关于发育如何进化的令人兴奋但过于笼统的概括。在这里，我们从比较生物学和历史生物学的角度审视这种方法的几个潜在假设。首先，我们评估基因表达相似性与同源形态等同背后的逻辑。其次，我们审视围绕基因表达模式描述性可视化的认识论问题。我们通过研究系统发育编码以及将这些模式映射以考察复杂基因调控网络的进化的作用来得出结论。
