Institute of Theoretical Biology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Evol Dev. 2020 Jan;22(1-2):143-153. doi: 10.1111/ede.12319. Epub 2019 Sep 23.
The question of whether "developmental bias" can influence evolution is still controversial, despite much circumstantial evidence and a good theoretical argument. Here, I will argue that the domestication of mammalian species, which took place independently more than two dozen times, provides a particularly convincing example of developmental bias in evolution. The singular finding that underlies this claim is the repeated occurrence in domesticated mammals of a set of distinctive traits, none of which were deliberately selected. This phenomenon has been termed "the domestication syndrome". In this article, I will: (a) describe the properties of the domestication syndrome; (b) show how it can be explained in terms of the operation of a specific genetic regulatory network, that which governs neural crest cell development; and (c) discuss Dmitry Belyaev's idea of "destabilizing selection," which holds that selecting for a new behavior often entails neuroendocrine alterations that alter many aspects of development. Finally, I will argue for the potential general significance of such destabilizing selection, in combination with developmental bias, in animal evolution.
尽管有大量的间接证据和很好的理论论证，但“发育偏向是否会影响进化”这一问题仍然存在争议。在这里，我将论证，哺乳动物物种的驯化是一个特别令人信服的进化中发育偏向的例子，这种驯化独立发生了二十多次。这一观点的基础是一个独特的发现，即在驯化的哺乳动物中反复出现了一组独特的特征，这些特征都不是故意选择的。这种现象被称为“驯化综合征”。在本文中，我将：(a)描述驯化综合征的特性；(b)展示如何根据特定的遗传调控网络（即支配神经嵴细胞发育的网络）的运作来解释这一现象；(c)讨论德米特里·贝利亚耶夫的“非稳定选择”思想，即选择一种新的行为往往需要神经内分泌的改变，从而改变发育的许多方面。最后，我将论证这种非稳定选择与发育偏向相结合在动物进化中的潜在普遍意义。
