Wk 2: Evo-Devo

"This means that in some sense, evolution is a simpler process than we first thought..... (rather than) starting from scratch, again and again.... We now unsderstand that, no, evolution works with packets of information and uses them in new and different ways, in new and different combinations, without having to invent anything fundamentally new..."

One of the things that this quote is referring to is the extremely high percentage of matching genomes between one species and the next, be it chimps, mice, or humans. It seems that one gene-cluster mutation can cause a string of changed characteristics, as in the case of the homeotic mutation of the fruit fly mentioned. Mutuations can "act as master regulators that choose between alternate developmental fates." But, when you get to the heart of the matter, ie. the genes, there may only be one small difference.

I can see the benefit of going to the base of all of the branches of variablity... working backwards, or devolving, in order to understand the current development of a species.