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Animal evolution has always been at the core of Biology, but even today many fundamental questions remain open. The field of animal ‘evo-devo’ is leveraging recent technical and conceptual advances in development, paleontology, genomics and transcriptomics to propose radically different answers to traditional evolutionary controversies. This book is divided into four parts, each of which approaches animal evolution from a different perspective. The first part (chapters 2 and 3) investigates how new sources of evidence have changed conventional views of animal origins, while the second (chapters 4–8) addresses the connection between embryogenesis and evolution, and the genesis of cellul...
T-box Genes in Development and Disease looks at the genes encoding the T-box family of transcription factors function as key regulators of many important decision processes during embryonic and tissue development. The importance of these genes is further underlined by the fact that most members of this gene family have been conserved during evolution from worms to humans. This book brings together the current information on conserved aspects with the evolutionary innovations of the functions of these genes during developmental regulation in various animal species and then discusses their important roles in human disease. - Brings together current knowledge from a wide variety of animal species and humans - Presents commentary from authoritative experts, and includes many prominent scientists and their research - Illuminates the connections between developmental biology, evolution, and human disease - Allows researchers and newcomers to this research area to gain a thorough picture of the current knowledge
Die Evolution, kaum eine Kraft innerhalb der Natur ist faszinierender und gleichzeitig auch komplexer in seinem Wesen. Dank der umfangreichen Informationen, die wir heute bereits über die Evolution gesammelt haben, ist es uns möglich, ein sehr detailreiches Bild zu zeichnen von eben jener Kraft, die nicht nur unsere eigenen Körper erschuf, sondern auch alle anderen Wunder der belebten Welt um uns herum. Mit diesem Buch begeben wir uns auf eine wahrhaft epochale Reise durch die letzten 542 Millionen Jahre der Erdgeschichte. Für diese Reise betrachten wir die Evolution als Fluss, der durch die Zeit fließt und kein Wasser enthält, sondern die Gene und Genome aller Lebewesen, die jemals auf der Erde gelebt haben. Gewissermaßen reisen wir gemeinsam mit unseren Genen durch die Erdgeschichte und begleiten sie auf ihrer Reise durch die Zeit. Denn auch die Gene, die heute unsere Körper und unseren Geist formen, waren zu jedem Zeitpunkt dieser einmaligen Geschichte anwesend.
Among the most important innovations in the history of life is the transition from single-celled organisms to more complex, multicellular organisms. Multicellularity has evolved repeatedly across the tree of life, resulting in the evolution of new kinds of organisms that collectively constitute a significant portion of Earth’s biodiversity and have transformed the biosphere. This volume examines the origins and subsequent evolution of multicellularity, reviewing the types of multicellular groups that exist, their evolutionary relationships, the processes that led to their evolution, and the conceptual frameworks in which their evolution is understood. This important volume is intended to serve as a jumping-off point, stimulating further research by summarizing the topics that students and researchers of the evolution of multicellularity should be familiar with, and highlighting future research directions for the field. Chapter 13 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
The book integrates our understanding of the factors and processes underlying the evolution of multicellularity by providing several complementary perspectives (both theoretical and experimental) and using examples from various lineages in which multicellularity evolved. Recent years marked an increased interest in understanding how and why these transitions occurred, and data from various fields are providing new insights into the forces driving the several independent transitions to multicellular life as well as into the genetic and molecular basis for the evolution of this phenotype. The ultimate goal of this book is to facilitate the identification of general and unifying principles and mechanisms.
Most vertebrate cranial sense organs arise from placodes. These placodes give rise to sensory neurons that transmit information to the brain and neurosecretory cells. This book reviews the evolutionary origin of the sensory and neurosecretory cell types. It summarizes our current understanding of vertebrate evolution, clarifies conceptual issues relating to homology and evolutionary innovation of cell types, compares the sensory and neurosecretory cell types with similar cell types in other animals, and addresses the question of how cranial placodes evolved as novel structures in vertebrates by redeploying pre-existing and sometimes evolutionarily ancient cell types.
A unique account of the biology, ecology and evolution of choanoflagellates - the closest, known, living, unicellular relatives of animals.
Beginning with a new essay, "Levels of Life and Death," Tibor Gánti develops three general arguments about the nature of life. In "The Nature of the Living State," Professor Gánti answers Francis Crick's puzzles about "life itself," offering a set of reflections on the parameters of the problems to be solved in origins of life research and, more broadly, in the search for principles governing the living state in general. "The Principle of Life" describes in accessible language Gánti's chief insight about the organization of living systems-his theory of the "chemoton," or chemical automaton. The simplest chemoton model of the living state consists of three chemically coupled subsystems: an...