Monday, May 05, 2025
Evolution of complexity through regulatory variation at a single gene
"Life history traits evolve to optimize an organism’s survival and reproductive output in response to natural selection (7). They are complex traits—e.g., size at birth, growth pattern, and age at maturity—that combine variation in physiology, development, and behavior to maximize fitness in a particular environment. Due to their complexity, variation in life history traits is expected to involve multiple genes (polygenic) (5), a genetic architecture that is particularly difficult to study given the statistical challenge of linking the effect of multiple low-effect genes to phenotypic variation. [...] The study of Verta et al. (6) revealed vgll3’s master control over multiple regulatory pathways, supporting the notion that it acts indeed as a hub gene." Full report at PNAS. Sell also the paper by Verta et al.
Related studies are reported by Rosvall, summarizing work identifying regulation of behavior and morphology driven by testosterone, which is formed via complex enzymatic pathways, but can be controlled by a single gene in birds, resulting in impressive morphological and behavioral diversity.
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Labels: #evolution, #Gene
