Article: Darwin's finch beaks, Bmp4, and the developmental origins of novelty

From: Robert Karl Stonjek (rstonjek_at_bigpond.net.au)
Date: 01/27/05 

Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 16:50:35 -0500 (EST)

News and Commentary Evodevo:
Darwin's finch beaks, Bmp4, and the developmental origins of novelty
B Sinervo

Heredity (2005) 94, 141-142. doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800618 Publised online 10
November 2004
Published online 10 November 2004

For the past 25 years, a cadre of evodevotees has been struggling to unify
the fields of evolution and development. A recent paper published in the
journal Science by Abzahnov et al (2004) reports on the role of the growth
factor Bmp4 during the evolution in the beak morphology of Darwin's finches
on the Galápagos Islands. These data show that evolutionary changes to the
developmental program of large- versus small-beaked species of Darwin's
finch arise from shifts in the heterochronic - timing of ontogenetic
events - and heterotopic - spatial expression of ontogenetic events -
expression of Bmp4.

Stephen J Gould (1977) popularized the term heterochrony, which now serves
as a mantra chanted at evodevo journal clubs around the globe. If Gould were
alive today, he would undoubtedly be raving about the latest evodevo
findings on Bmp4.

Heterotopy (Edelman, 1987) and heterochrony (Gould, 1977) capture the
five-dimensions of ontogeny and phylogeny: the three spatial dimensions of
the developing embryo and the two temporal dimensions of development and
evolution. It is no wonder that the synthesis of evolution and development
is so difficult to achieve. Einstein only had to worry about the four
dimensions involved in the fabric of space and time.

Full Text at Nature Heredity
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/hdy/journal/v94/n2/full/6800618a.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek