Evolutionary consequences of modularity in vertebrate dentitions at multiple levels of biological design


Meeting Abstract

S10-4  Thursday, Jan. 7 09:30  Evolutionary consequences of modularity in vertebrate dentitions at multiple levels of biological design HULSEY, C. Darrin*; MEYER, A.; Univ. of Konstanz; Univ. of Konstanz darrin.hulsey@uni-konstanz.de http://www.evolutionsbiologie.uni-konstanz.de/index.php?section=203

Modularity at multiple levels of the genotype to phenotype map can influence the adaptive evolution of teeth. From ecology to genomics, teeth provide an integrative link between virtually every discipline in the biological sciences. Using examples from a wide array of vertebrates but with a bias towards studies of cichlid fishes, I will discuss how understanding modularity in teeth provides exceptional insight into processes such as correlated evolution, the importance of gene duplication, convergence, the primacy of protein coding versus regulatory changes, as well as many-to-one mapping during adaptive radiation.

the Society for
Integrative &
Comparative
Biology