BIOL 1F90 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Gremlin, Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4, Evolutionary Developmental Biology
19 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Compares the development of different organisms in an attempt to understand ancestral relationships between organisms and the developmental mechanisms that bring about evolutionary change. Involves the discovery of genes that control development. Changes in developmental genes affect traits that can be acted on by natural selection. Bmp4 causes cells to undergo apoptosis and die. Found between the toes in both species. Gremlin inhibits the function of bmp4 and allows cell to survive. Only in duck foot and different stain(brown) recognizes gremlin protein produced between the toes in ducks, none in chicken. Mutations on the expression of bmp4 and gremlin provided variation. In terrestrial settings, nonwebbed feet are an advantage: natural selection maintains nonwebbed feet. In aquatic environments, webbed feet are an advantage: natural selection would have favoured webbed feet. Speciation may have been promoted by geographical isolation of habitats. Allometric growth: different parts of the body grow at different rates with respect to each other.
