Sommer Ralf J, Bumbarger Daniel J
Department Evolutionary Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany.
Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol. 2012 May-Jun;1(3):389-400. doi: 10.1002/wdev.33. Epub 2012 Jan 27.
The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is one of the most important model organisms in all areas of modern biology. Using the knowledge about C. elegans as a baseline, nematodes are now intensively studied in evolution and development. Evolutionary developmental biology or for short, 'evo-devo' has been developed as a new research discipline during the last two decades to investigate how changes in developmental processes and mechanisms result in the modification of morphological structures and phenotypic novelty. In this article, we review the concepts that make nematode evo-devo a successful approach to evolutionary biology. We introduce selected model systems for nematode evo-devo and provide a detailed discussion of four selected case studies. The most striking finding of nematode evo-devo is the magnitude of developmental variation in the context of a conserved body plan. Detailed investigation of early embryogenesis, gonad formation, vulva development, and sex determination revealed that molecular mechanisms evolve rapidly, often in the context of a conserved body plan. These studies highlight the importance of developmental systems drift and neutrality in evolution.
自由生活的线虫秀丽隐杆线虫是现代生物学各个领域中最重要的模式生物之一。以关于秀丽隐杆线虫的知识为基础，线虫目前在进化和发育方面得到了深入研究。进化发育生物学，简称为“evo-devo”，是在过去二十年中发展起来的一门新研究学科，旨在研究发育过程和机制的变化如何导致形态结构的改变和表型新奇性。在本文中，我们回顾了使线虫进化发育生物学成为进化生物学成功方法的概念。我们介绍了线虫进化发育生物学的选定模型系统，并对四个选定的案例研究进行了详细讨论。线虫进化发育生物学最显著的发现是在保守身体结构背景下发育变异的程度。对早期胚胎发生、性腺形成、阴门发育和性别决定的详细研究表明，分子机制往往在保守身体结构的背景下迅速进化。这些研究突出了发育系统漂移和中性在进化中的重要性。
