Module 5 The History of Life: Giovanne G. Tampos Bs Biology Program

Module 5 The History of Life
GIOVANNE G. TAMPOS
BS BIOLOGY PROGRAM
Module No. and Title Module 5 The History of Life
Module Objectives/Outcomes
Lessons in the Module Lesson 2 Evolutionary Development
Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Evolutionary Development

Learning Outcomes
Introduction
In this chapter, we will examine the details of evolutionary developmental biology. From the
previous chapter, we learned that first life possibly originated from a prebiotic soup-like
environment that contains the necessary compounds to produce RNA-based organisms. Through
mutations and natural selection, more stable organisms containing DNA were formed over time.
Eventually, possibly due to endosymbiosis, single-celled organisms were developed. This
development also paved the way for the formation of multicellularity and the individuality of
organisms. These developments were naturally selected because of their economic advantages
to organisms.
We will focus in this chapter on the aspect of the development of an animal from an egg into
multiple cells and then into an embryo forming organs and tissues and an adult form with full-
grown internal and external structures and so with the development of the plant from a seed
into multiple cells. We will discuss what are the origins of variations that could have led to the
formation of a species and so with diversity. Since variations arise from mutations, we will
determine the root cause of various mutations. This leads us to focus on the factors that dictate
development, the genes. Heterochrony in the study focuses on the time in the developmental
process at which a developmental trait is first expressed in a species, relative to when that same
developmental trait is first expressed in the ancestor of the species.
Abstraction
A. EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo) is an important field of science that looks at the
broad field of evolution and organismal development. This field understands the relationship
between species and the developmental stages among organisms in evolution. The ontogeny-the
development of an individual over their lifetime- is influenced by traits even from simple
development to more complex development. These traits are demonstrated by genes that not
only code for physical traits, but also control the rate of development, and the timing at which
developmental stages should occur. It controls two important organism developments:
reproductive trait development and somatic cell development.
As you can imagine, a multicellular organism originates from a single cell, and all the somatic
cells, except for sperm and egg cells, developed contain the same set of genes. So you might be
wondering what contributes to skin cells, muscle fibers, and liver cells’ different formation if
each contains a similar set of genes. How cells function later on in development depends on the
developmental pathways along which they progress. This development has ramifications for the
evolutionary process.
B. Regulation, Expression, and Switches

Cells in early development are totipotent- meaning they could differentiate into any of the cell
types that make up the adult organism. The fate of these cells depends on the complex and
interesting means that are either regulated or expressed within the environment of a cell. During
the process of development, cells receive cues and information from a nearby cellular
environment and this guides the cell’s development. How the cells function later on for example
becoming skin, muscles, or liver cells, development depends on the environment of the cells.
Nonetheless, these developmental processes are guided by homeotic genes, these are master-
switch genes that encode proteins that activate or repress gene expression. They encode
proteins that control the switching on and off of a cascade of other genes in a set sequence and
thereby affect cell size, shape, division, and the positioning of the cells within the organism’s
body plan. Thus, homeotic genes play a critical role in the construction of an organism’s
phenotype by acting as signals that create an instructional map for where structures should
develop. The signals that occur locally and indirectly specify what structures other genes should
form in those particular local regions. This is the phenotype on which natural selection acts.
Homeotic genes encode transcription factor

proteins that guide Ontogeny. Homeotic genes
affect specific regions in the developing
organism by delineating where morphological
structures will grow within an embryo, as well
as playing a key role in the development of
these structures.
The extensive study of homeotic genes of fruit

flies during the developmental processes
revealed that it regulates the overall
development of the insect’s body regions and
the segments within its body regions. A type of
homeotic gene, Hox genes, affects the anterior
to posterior positioning of structures on the
embryo’s body by encoding transcription
factors, which are proteins that bind to DNA
and thereby influence gene expression. These
genes determine the ultimate fate of various
cells in the head, thorax, and abdomen regions in a developing fruit fly and other organisms.
These are positioned in the chromosomes relative to the position of the animal body parts that
the Hox genes regulate. This is called collinearity. Homeotic genes also affect spatial
development in plants. Researchers have found that homeotic genes are involved in determining
which cells become which structures—stamens, carpel, petals, and so forth— of flowering
plants.
A homeobox region, 180-base-pair sequence, is found within Hox genes which encode the DNA
binding regions of transcription factor proteins. The strong conservation of the homeobox
regions is sufficient to allow one species’ transcription factor to function in the other species, as
it switches on the expression of genes in that species.
Mutations of homeotic genes may lead to abnormalities. A small change in homeotic genes like
Hox genes can produce large amounts of the phenotypic variance that fuels natural selection.
Some Hox genes are conserved evolutionarily therefore they can substitute in species despite
vast phylogenetic distances between them.
Hox genes between species have important evolutionary implications. These results suggest that
homeotic genes display deep (ancient) homologies. Homologous Hox genes have been
uncovered in groups as diverse as jellyfish, mollusks, earthworms, and octopuses, and, in each
case, these genes are involved in constructing the anterior, central, and posterior body parts of
these creatures. Deep homology of homeotic genes is also seen in plant MADS-box genes.
MADS-box genes play a role in flower development but are also instrumental in nonflowering
plant species, where they are involved in developmental pathways in leaf and root systems.
C. REGULATORY ENHANCERS
Transcription proteins encoded

in homeotic genes work by
binding to stretches of DNA
known as regulatory enhancers. A
regulatory enhancer of a gene is a
section of DNA that lies outside of
a gene but is involved in
regulating the timing and level of
that gene’s expression. This acts
as a switch that turns genes on
and off, and as well affects the
amount of product (primarily
proteins) produced by a gene. As
transcription factor proteins bind
to the regulatory enhancer, the result is like a switch being turned on—the switch triggers RNA
polymerase to start transcribing an RNA copy of the gene. Variation in the expression of
regulatory enhancers can lead to increase morphological variation which natural selection can
act on. A single gene can have numerous regulatory enhancers associated with it, and these
regulators can operate independently of one another on that gene.
Regulatory enhancers are one type of cis-regulatory element: a noncoding stretch of DNA that
controls the spatial and temporal expression of nearby genes. By noncoding, we mean that these
stretches of DNA do not code for protein sequences. To a large extent, it is these noncoding
regions of DNA that allow the cells of a multicellular organism to do such different things despite
containing the same set of genes. Cis-regulatory elements are also a potentially powerful
generator of the diversity of life. Whole-genome sequencing demonstrates that closely related
species show very high levels of genetic similarity. At the same time, closely related species may
also look and act very differently. For instance, human and chimp whole-genome comparisons of
DNA found an average difference of only 1.3%—a remarkable degree of similarity at the
nucleotide level. However, chimps and humans look and act differently. The cis-regulatory
elements are working on these differences. It can diversify over time to affect the timing (and
spatial location) of gene expression differently, thus even closely related species may look and
act very differently.
D. EVO-DEVO AND GENE DUPLICATION
Gene duplication—the establishment of multiple copies of one or more genes within the
genome- plays an important role in the evolution of developmental pathways. Duplicated genes
can either be lost if it comes at a cost or remains functionless copies known as pseudogenes.
Some duplicated genes become paralog. Paralogs of homeotic genes may lead to new
developmental pathways emerging when one undergoes different mutations and the other copy
does not. When this occurs, a diversity of forms happens. Paralogs of genes involved in
developmental patterning can create new developmental pathways, as over time, two paralogs
will undergo different mutations and so may follow different evolutionary trajectories. These
new pathways contribute to the diversity of forms that we see in nature. For example,
duplications of Hox genes
have contributed to the complexity of vertebrate body plans.
Duplicate genes—both the original gene and the duplicate copy—may be maintained in a
population for at least three different reasons:
1. Duplicate genes may influence gene expression levels, increasing the production of some
critical substances such as ribosomal RNA and histones.
2. After duplication, paralogs may diverge by dividing the work initially undertaken by the
gene before duplication. This is referred to as subfunctionalization.
3. Duplicated genes may diverge, thus allowing for some new, but related, functions to
evolve. This process is called neofunctionalization.
E. EVO-DEVO AND NEURAL CREST

Neural crest cells are a group of embryonic stem cells that give rise
to many different cell types in vertebrates and whose
development is controlled by a set of developmental regulatory
genes, such as Hox, snail, and Dlx. These cells are initially
positioned near the neural tube during early development and
then migrate to new locations during subsequent embryological
stages. After neural crest cells migrate during ontogeny, they form
or contribute to critical tissues and organs, including the blood
vessels and heart, the brain and nervous system, the thymus,
adipose tissue, the craniofacial region of the skull, and the teeth.
Application
1. Discuss the role of homeotic genes on evolutionary development?
2. Describes regulatory enhancer’s role in development.
3. Discuss the role of gene duplication in the evolution of plants.
4. Human and chimp whole-genome comparisons of DNA found an average difference of
only 1.3%. Why is it we look and act differently from chimps?
Please answer each item including the activity following these criteria:
Presentation of facts 15 points
Relating to the topic 10 points
Total 25 points

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Module 5 The History of Life

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Evolutionary Development

B. Regulation, Expression, and Switches

Homeotic genes encode transcription factor

The extensive study of homeotic genes of fruit

Transcription proteins encoded

D. EVO-DEVO AND GENE DUPLICATION

E. EVO-DEVO AND NEURAL CREST

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