rblog

Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science Of Evo Devo And The Making Of The Animal Kingdom
Author: Sean Carroll
Amazon info

This book serves as an introduction to the science of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, also known as Evo Devo, although Evolutionary Embryology works better for me. Evo Devo tries to answer the question as to how such dramatic differences in form developed among species, given how many genes are shared between species. The answer is fascinating. The "root toolkit" for our body shapes, e.g. the key genes and associated proteins, evolved a LONG time ago - e.g. 500 mya, when life was still in the oceans. And that root toolkit is shared by all nearly all animal species - including all the vertebrates. So, if the genes didn't change, what did? The answer to that is the idea of gene switches, which control the actions of genes that express themselves via proteins. As a simple example, "big head" could be made by changing a growth gene (which impacts every place where that gene is used) or by turning on a switch near the head to make more of the growth in the region of the embryo near the head.

The book is meant for lay readers, but it does require concentration - and a re-reading is probably in order for me. Evo Devo is certainly a fascinating "new" science (it is about 20 years old) and it is very enlightening to see how genetic changes over time change the shape of organisms, but without changing genes/proteins and operating instead on the "switches".

Recommended for science oriented readers interested in understanding the evolution of form.