Jackman William R, Lynch Vincent J, Gibert Yann
Biology Department, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, 04011, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA.
BMC Ecol Evol. 2025 Jul 1;25(1):62. doi: 10.1186/s12862-025-02405-8.
According to a modern interpretation of Dollo's Law of irreversibility in evolution, a lost structure, is unable to reappear in evolution due to the accumulation of mutations in the genes required for its formation. However, several reports have challenged this law, even in vertebrates. Lost structures have been reported to re-appear in natural populations, as well as through spontaneous mutations, genetic engineering, and pharmacology. Some of these lost structure re-appearances are fully viable in the organism, especially while others are only detected during embryogenesis or early stages of life as the organism is unable to reach adult stages. We hypothesize that the re-appearance of lost structures can only occur if homologous structures are still fully developed in the organism, allowing for a re-utilization of the developmental pathways that are needed to re-form a lost structure. However, if no instance of the lost character remains, the re-evolution of this specific character cannot happen. Therefore, our latest results using pharmacology continue to support hat has been previously postulated: Dollo's law of evolution remains true for lost characters that have not remained in the organism but should be amended for the re-apparition of lost structures with serial homologous characters present in any form in the organism.
根据对进化中多洛不可逆定律的现代解释，由于形成该结构所需基因中突变的积累，已消失的结构在进化过程中无法再次出现。然而，有几份报告对这一定律提出了挑战，即使在脊椎动物中也是如此。据报道，已消失的结构在自然种群中重新出现，以及通过自发突变、基因工程和药理学方法重新出现。其中一些已消失结构的重新出现对生物体来说是完全可行的，特别是还有一些仅在胚胎发育或生命早期阶段被检测到，因为生物体无法发育到成年阶段。我们假设，只有当同源结构在生物体中仍完全发育时，已消失结构的重新出现才会发生，这使得重新形成已消失结构所需的发育途径得以重新利用。然而，如果已消失特征没有任何实例留存，那么这个特定特征的再次进化就不可能发生。因此，我们使用药理学的最新结果继续支持先前的假设：多洛进化定律对于生物体中未留存的已消失特征仍然成立，但对于生物体中以任何形式存在连续同源特征的已消失结构的重新出现情况应予以修正。
