Meeting Abstract

46.2  Saturday, Jan. 5  Predicting evolutionary patterns from developmental mechanisms KAVANAGH, KD*; EVANS, AR; JERNVALL, J; University of Helsinki and Stony Brook University; University of Helsinki; University of Helsinki and Stony Brook University kathryn_kavanagh@yahoo.com

A recurring promise of evolutionary developmental biology is the discovery of the mechanisms and rules that govern the production of the phenotypic variation available for natural selection. Using examples from several systems, I will discuss different approaches that use development to predict evolutionary paths. An example from mammal dentition will be presented, in which we used the experimentally-determined system logic of developing organs (activator-inhibitor networks in developing adjacent teeth) as a basis for a model of morphological variation that successfully predicted the evolutionary trajectory within the most diverse mammalian group living, the murine rodents.