Butler P M
Dept. of Biology, University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom.
Int J Dev Biol. 1995 Feb;39(1):25-34.
The evolution of dental ontogeny in the vertebrates is reviewed. Teeth probably originated as dermal structures, which secondarily spread to the mouth, where they became associated with bones. Tooth formation is a repetitive process, resulting in spatially separate units, and primitively it continued throughout life. Development of conical teeth commences at the tip and extends basally; folding of the basal lamina of the inner dental epithelium results in complex shapes, as in mammalian molars. Heterodonty, the divergent development of the teeth in a dentition, has evolved in a number of vertebrates, particularly mammals. Experimental analysis of dental development is still at an early stage, and the explanation of evolutionary changes in developmental terms is largely speculative Mammals are atypical vertebrates in many ways, and more studies of lower vertebrates, especially fishes, are needed.
本文综述了脊椎动物牙齿个体发育的演化过程。牙齿可能最初起源于皮肤结构，随后扩展到口腔，并与骨骼相连。牙齿形成是一个重复的过程，形成空间上独立的单位，并且在原始状态下会持续一生。圆锥形牙齿的发育从尖端开始并向基部延伸；内牙上皮基底层的折叠导致了复杂的形状，如哺乳动物的磨牙。异型齿，即牙列中牙齿的不同发育形式，在许多脊椎动物，尤其是哺乳动物中已经演化出来。牙齿发育的实验分析仍处于早期阶段，从发育角度对进化变化的解释很大程度上是推测性的。哺乳动物在许多方面是不典型的脊椎动物，因此需要对低等脊椎动物，尤其是鱼类进行更多研究。
