Wray Gregory A
Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0338, USA.
Int J Dev Biol. 2003;47(7-8):675-84.
A growing body of evidence suggests that changes in transcriptional regulation form an important part of the genetic basis for the evolution of development. At a microevolutionary level, all the necessary conditions are present: populations harbor abundant genetic variation for differences in transcription profiles, a substantial fraction of these variants can influence organismal phenotype, and some variants have fitness consequences and are subject to natural selection. At a macroevolutionary level, the evidence is less direct but strongly suggestive: specific differences in anatomy and gene expression are often correlated, while comparisons of transcription profiles among distantly related taxa point to extensive evolutionary changes in regulatory gene networks. Understanding how transcriptional regulatory systems evolve, and what contributions these changes have made to the evolution of phenotype, represents a major challenge for Evo-Devo.
越来越多的证据表明，转录调控的变化构成了发育进化遗传基础的重要组成部分。在微观进化层面，所有必要条件都已具备：群体中存在丰富的转录谱差异的遗传变异，这些变异中的很大一部分能够影响生物体的表型，并且一些变异具有适合度后果并受到自然选择。在宏观进化层面，证据虽不那么直接但极具启发性：解剖结构和基因表达的特定差异往往相互关联，而对远缘分类群转录谱的比较则指向调控基因网络中广泛的进化变化。理解转录调控系统如何进化，以及这些变化对表型进化有何贡献，是进化发育生物学面临的一项重大挑战。
