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Evolutionary developmental biology and morphology

Section edited by David Ferrier

This section considers studies in the evolution of development and developmental processes, and into morphological evolution.

Page 4 of 5

  1. Plasticity, i.e. non-heritable morphological variation, enables organisms to modify the shape of their skeletal tissues in response to varying environmental stimuli. Plastic variation may also allow individual...

    Authors: Philip SL Anderson, Sabrina Renaud and Emily J Rayfield

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:85

    Content type: Research article

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  2. Efficient venom delivery systems are known to occur only in varanoid lizards and advanced colubroidean snakes among squamate reptiles. Although components of these venomous systems might have been present in a...

    Authors: Hussam Zaher, Leonardo de Oliveira, Felipe G Grazziotin, Michelle Campagner, Carlos Jared, Marta M Antoniazzi and Ana L Prudente

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:58

    Content type: Research article

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  5. One of the hallmarks of multicellular organisms is the ability of their cells to trigger responses to the environment in a coordinated manner. In recent years primary cilia have been shown to be present as ‘an...

    Authors: Danielle A Ludeman, Nathan Farrar, Ana Riesgo, Jordi Paps and Sally P Leys

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:3

    Content type: Research article

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  6. A long, slender body plan characterized by an elongate antorbital region and posterior displacement of the unpaired fins has evolved multiple times within ray-finned fishes, and is associated with ambush preda...

    Authors: Erin E Maxwell and Laura AB Wilson

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:265

    Content type: Research article

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  8. Although molecular analyses have contributed to a better resolution of the animal tree of life, the phylogenetic position of tardigrades (water bears) is still controversial, as they have been united alternati...

    Authors: Georg Mayer, Christine Martin, Jan Rüdiger, Susann Kauschke, Paul A Stevenson, Izabela Poprawa, Karin Hohberg, Ralph O Schill, Hans-Joachim Pflüger and Martin Schlegel

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:230

    Content type: Research article

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  9. It has been hypothesized that sperm whale predation is the driver of eye size evolution in giant squid. Given that the eyes of giant squid have the size expected for a squid this big, it is likely that any enh...

    Authors: Lars Schmitz, Ryosuke Motani, Christopher E Oufiero, Christopher H Martin, Matthew D McGee and Peter C Wainwright

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:226

    Content type: Correspondence

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  10. Most turtles from the Middle and Late Jurassic of Asia are referred to the newly defined clade Xinjiangchelyidae, a group of mostly shell-based, generalized, small to mid-sized aquatic froms that are widely co...

    Authors: Márton Rabi, Chang-Fu Zhou, Oliver Wings, Sun Ge and Walter G Joyce

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:203

    Content type: Research article

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  11. The granivorous house sparrow Passer domesticus is thought to have developed its commensal relationship with humans with the rise of agriculture in the Middle East some 10,000 years ago, and to have expanded with...

    Authors: Sepand Riyahi, Øyvind Hammer, Tayebeh Arbabi, Antonio Sánchez, Cees S Roselaar, Mansour Aliabadian and Glenn-Peter Sætre

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:200

    Content type: Research article

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  13. Modularity is an important feature in the evolvability of organisms, since it allows the occurrence of complex adaptations at every single level of biological systems. While at the cellular level the modular o...

    Authors: Nuria Medarde, Francesc Muñoz-Muñoz, María José López-Fuster and Jacint Ventura

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:179

    Content type: Research article

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  14. Fossil evidence of ginkgophyte ontogeny is exceedingly rare. Early development in the extant Ginkgo biloba is characterized by a series of distinct ontogenetic stages. Fossils providing insights into the early on...

    Authors: Kathleen Bauer, Lea Grauvogel-Stamm, Evelyn Kustatscher and Michael Krings

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:177

    Content type: Research article

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  15. A dual olfactory system, represented by two anatomically distinct but spatially proximate chemosensory epithelia that project to separate areas of the forebrain, is known in several classes of tetrapods. Lungf...

    Authors: Steven Chang, Yu-Wen Chung-Davidson, Scot V Libants, Kaben G Nanlohy, Matti Kiupel, C Titus Brown and Weiming Li

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:172

    Content type: Research article

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  17. On August 9th 2012, we published an original research article in Scientific Reports, concluding that artificial radionuclides released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant exerted genetically and physi...

    Authors: Atsuki Hiyama, Chiyo Nohara, Wataru Taira, Seira Kinjo, Masaki Iwata and Joji M Otaki

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:168

    Content type: Correspondence

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  19. A novel sarcomeric myosin heavy chain gene, MYH14, was identified following the completion of the human genome project. MYH14 contains an intronic microRNA, miR-499, which is expressed in a slow/cardiac muscle sp...

    Authors: Sharmin Siddique Bhuiyan, Shigeharu Kinoshita, Chaninya Wongwarangkana, Md Asaduzzaman, Shuichi Asakawa and Shugo Watabe

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:142

    Content type: Research article

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  20. ParaHox and Hox genes are thought to have evolved from a common ancestral ProtoHox cluster or from tandem duplication prior to the divergence of cnidarians and bilaterians. Similar to Hox clusters, chordate Pa...

    Authors: Tetsuro Ikuta, Yi-Chih Chen, Rossella Annunziata, Hsiu-Chi Ting, Che-huang Tung, Ryo Koyanagi, Kunifumi Tagawa, Tom Humphreys, Asao Fujiyama, Hidetoshi Saiga, Nori Satoh, Jr-Kai Yu, Maria Ina Arnone and Yi-Hsien Su

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:129

    Content type: Research article

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  21. Eosauropterygians consist of two major clades, the Nothosauroidea of the Tethysian Middle Triassic (e.g., Nothosaurus) and the Pistosauroidea. The Pistosauroidea include rare Triassic forms (Pistosauridae) and th...

    Authors: Anna Krahl, Nicole Klein and P Martin Sander

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:123

    Content type: Research article

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  22. Remipedia were initially seen as a primitive taxon within Pancrustacea based on characters considered ancestral, such as the homonomously segmented trunk. Meanwhile, several morphological and molecular studies...

    Authors: Torben Stemme, Thomas M Iliffe, Björn M von Reumont, Stefan Koenemann, Steffen Harzsch and Gerd Bicker

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:119

    Content type: Research article

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  24. Hair cells are vertebrate secondary sensory cells located in the ear and in the lateral line organ. Until recently, these cells were considered to be mechanoreceptors exclusively found in vertebrates that evol...

    Authors: Francesca Rigon, Thomas Stach, Federico Caicci, Fabio Gasparini, Paolo Burighel and Lucia Manni

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:112

    Content type: Research article

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  26. Few studies on eurypterids have taken into account morphological changes that occur throughout postembryonic development. Here two species of eurypterid are described from the Pragian Beartooth Butte Formation...

    Authors: James C Lamsdell and Paul A Selden

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:98

    Content type: Research article

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  28. Anguillicola crassus, a swim bladder nematode naturally parasitizing the Japanese eel, was introduced about 30 years ago from East Asia into Europe where it colonized almost all populations of the European eel. W...

    Authors: Urszula Weclawski, Emanuel G Heitlinger, Tobias Baust, Bernhard Klar, Trevor Petney, Yu San Han and Horst Taraschewski

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:78

    Content type: Research article

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  29. The Hippo pathway controls growth by mediating cell proliferation and apoptosis. Dysregulation of Hippo signaling causes abnormal proliferation in both healthy and cancerous cells. The Hippo pathway receives i...

    Authors: Henan Zhu, Ziwei Zhou, Daxi Wang, Wenyin Liu and Hao Zhu

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:76

    Content type: Research article

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  30. Talpids include forms with different degree of fossoriality, with major specializations in the humerus in the case of the fully fossorial moles. We studied the humeral microanatomy of eleven extant and eight e...

    Authors: Patricia S Meier, Constanze Bickelmann, Torsten M Scheyer, Daisuke Koyabu and Marcelo R Sánchez-Villagra

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:55

    Content type: Research article

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  31. The eyes of giant and colossal squid are among the largest eyes in the history of life. It was recently proposed that sperm whale predation is the main driver of eye size evolution in giant squid, on the basis...

    Authors: Lars Schmitz, Ryosuke Motani, Christopher E Oufiero, Christopher H Martin, Matthew D McGee, Ashlee R Gamarra, Johanna J Lee and Peter C Wainwright

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:45

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  33. The number of members of the Dlx gene family increased during the two rounds of whole-genome duplication that occurred in the common ancestor of the vertebrates. Because the Dlx genes are involved in the developm...

    Authors: Satoko Fujimoto, Yasuhiro Oisi, Shigehiro Kuraku, Kinya G Ota and Shigeru Kuratani

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2013 13:15

    Content type: Research article

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  34. Zona pellucida domain-containing proteins (ZP proteins) have been identified as the principle constituents of the egg coat (EC) of diverse metazoan taxa, including jawed vertebrates, urochordates and molluscs ...

    Authors: Qianghua Xu, Guang Li, Lixue Cao, Zhongjun Wang, Hua Ye, Xiaoyin Chen, Xi Yang, Yiquan Wang and Liangbiao Chen

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:239

    Content type: Research article

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  35. Animals often display phenotypic plasticity in morphologies and behaviors that result in distinct adaptations to fluctuating seasonal environments. The butterfly Bicyclus anynana has two seasonal forms, wet and d...

    Authors: Andrew Everett, Xiaoling Tong, Adriana D Briscoe and Antónia Monteiro

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:232

    Content type: Research article

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  36. Recent evidence supports the proposal that the observed diversity of animal body plans has been produced through alterations to the complexity of the regulatory genome rather than increases in the protein-codi...

    Authors: Lisa Zondag, Peter K Dearden and Megan J Wilson

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:211

    Content type: Research article

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  37. Remipedia, a group of homonomously segmented, cave-dwelling, eyeless arthropods have been regarded as basal crustaceans in most early morphological and taxonomic studies. However, molecular sequence informatio...

    Authors: Torben Stemme, Thomas M Iliffe, Gerd Bicker, Steffen Harzsch and Stefan Koenemann

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:168

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  38. Opsins are key proteins in animal photoreception. Together with a light-sensitive group, the chromophore, they form visual pigments which initiate the visual transduction cascade when photoactivated. The spect...

    Authors: Miriam J Henze, Kara Dannenhauer, Martin Kohler, Thomas Labhart and Matthias Gesemann

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:163

    Content type: Research article

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  39. Leanchoilia superlata is one of the best known arthropods from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Here we re-describe the morphology of L. superlata and discuss its possible autecology. The re...

    Authors: Joachim T Haug, Derek EG Briggs and Carolin Haug

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:162

    Content type: Research article

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  40. The range of potential morphologies resulting from evolution is limited by complex interacting processes, ranging from development to function. Quantifying these interactions is important for understanding ada...

    Authors: Peter D Smits and Alistair R Evans

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:146

    Content type: Research article

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  41. Myosin II (or Myosin Heavy Chain II, MHCII) is a family of molecular motors involved in the contractile activity of animal muscle cells but also in various other cellular processes in non-muscle cells. Previou...

    Authors: Cyrielle Dayraud, Alexandre Alié, Muriel Jager, Patrick Chang, Hervé Le Guyader, Michaël Manuel and Eric Quéinnec

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:107

    Content type: Research article

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  42. The origin and modification of novel traits are important aspects of biological diversification. Studies combining concepts and approaches of developmental genetics and evolutionary biology have uncovered many...

    Authors: Leila T Shirai, Suzanne V Saenko, Roberto A Keller, Maria A Jerónimo, Paul M Brakefield, Henri Descimon, Niklas Wahlberg and Patrícia Beldade

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2012 12:21

    Content type: Research article

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  43. Following colonization of new habitats and subsequent selection, adaptation to environmental conditions might be expected to be rapid. In a mountain lake in Norway, Lesjaskogsvatnet, more than 20 distinct spaw...

    Authors: Gaute Thomassen, Nicola J Barson, Thrond O Haugen and L Asbjørn Vøllestad

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011 11:360

    Content type: Research article

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  44. Complex life histories require adaptation of a single organism for multiple ecological niches. Transitions between life stages, however, may expose individuals to an increased risk of mortality, as the process...

    Authors: Ryan Calsbeek and Shawn Kuchta

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011 11:353

    Content type: Research article

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  45. We have studied sperm structure and motility in a eusocial rodent where reproduction is typically restricted to a single male and behaviourally dominant queen. Males rarely compete for access to the queen duri...

    Authors: Gerhard van der Horst, Liana Maree, Sanet H Kotzé and M Justin O'Riain

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011 11:351

    Content type: Research article

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  46. Basic helix-loop-helix and homeodomain transcription factors have been shown to specify all different neuronal cell subtypes composing the vertebrate retina. The appearance of gene paralogs of such retina-spec...

    Authors: Laura-Nadine Schuhmacher, Shahad Albadri, Mirana Ramialison and Lucia Poggi

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011 11:340

    Content type: Research article

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  48. The Hox family of transcription factors has a fundamental role in segmentation pathways and axial patterning of embryonic development and their clustered organization is linked with the regulatory mechanisms gove...

    Authors: Alfonso Natale, Carrie Sims, Maria L Chiusano, Alessandro Amoroso, Enrico D'Aniello, Laura Fucci, Robb Krumlauf, Margherita Branno and Annamaria Locascio

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011 11:330

    Content type: Research article

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  49. Teeth and tooth-like structures, together named odontodes, are repeated organs thought to share a common evolutionary origin. These structures can be found in gnathostomes at different locations along the body...

    Authors: Mélanie Debiais-Thibaud, Silvan Oulion, Franck Bourrat, Patrick Laurenti, Didier Casane and Véronique Borday-Birraux

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011 11:307

    Content type: Research article

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  50. Establishment of geographic morph frequency clines is difficult to explain in organisms with limited gene flow. Balancing selection, such as negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS), is instead suggested ...

    Authors: Yuma Takahashi, Satoru Morita, Jin Yoshimura and Mamoru Watanabe

    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011 11:256

    Content type: Research article

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