Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
Adv Child Dev Behav. 2013;44:193-223. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-397947-6.00007-6.
Evidence from contemporary epigenetic research indicates that it is not biologically meaningful to discuss genes without reference to the molecular, cellular, organismal, and environmental context within which they are activated and expressed. Genetic and nongenetic factors, including those beyond the organism, constitute a dynamic relational developmental system. This insight highlights the importance of bringing together genetics, development, and ecology into one explanatory framework for a more complete understanding of the emergence and maintenance of phenotypic stability and variability. In this Chapter, I review some examples of this integrative effort and explore its implications for developmental and evolutionary science, with a particular emphasis on the origins of phenotypic novelty. I argue that developmental science is critical to this integrative effort, in that evolutionary explanation cannot be complete without developmental explanation. This is the case because the process of development generates the phenotypic variation on which natural selection can act.
当代表观遗传学研究的证据表明，如果不参考基因被激活和表达的分子、细胞、机体和环境背景，讨论基因在生物学上是没有意义的。遗传和非遗传因素，包括超越机体的因素，构成了一个动态的关系发展系统。这一观点强调了将遗传学、发育学和生态学结合起来，纳入一个解释框架，以更全面地理解表型稳定性和可变性的出现和维持的重要性。在本章中，我回顾了这一综合努力的一些例子，并探讨了其对发展和进化科学的意义，特别强调了表型新颖性的起源。我认为，发展科学对于这一综合努力至关重要，因为如果没有发展解释，进化解释就不可能完整。这是因为发育过程产生了自然选择可以作用的表型变异。
