Critical junctions in evolution
成果类型：
Editorial Material
署名作者：
Sumner-Rooney, Lauren
署名单位：
Leibniz Institut fur Evolutions und Biodiversitatsforschung
刊物名称：
SCIENCE
ISSN/ISSBN：
0036-12050
DOI：
10.1126/science.ado1700
发表日期：
2024-03-01
页码：
951-952
关键词：
摘要：
The extent to which evolution is predictable is a frequent flashpoint for debate. Do organisms simply stumble around the adaptive landscape, or are they channeled along certain paths or trajectories? The emergence of convergent traits, whereby the same phenotypes evolve from different origins, spotlights this question. However, it is notoriously difficult to answer, particularly at macroevolutionary scales. On page 983 of this issue, Varney et al. (1) characterize critical junctions as the moments in evolutionary time when the trajectory toward one of several observed phenotypes is set, using the visual systems of chitons, a class of benthic marine mollusk. Their findings highlight an apparently crucial prerequisite to vision and a fundamental divide that appears to predate the evolution of either eyes or eyespots, which implicates a strong role for path dependence in the origin of complex traits over geological timescales.