Backward, upside down and inside out-the regulatory evolution of vertebrates

• 来源期刊: 国家科学评论（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2019,（5）
• 页码范围: 1004
• 页数: 1页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwz067

摘要

In this issue of NSR,the research team led byJiang Liu of Beijing Institute of Genomics,publishes a paper [1] on the evolutionary transition between invertebrates and vertebrates. For geneticists,especially the modern brand to whom the detailed molecular mechanism is the only reason to study biology,major evolutionary transitions would be the testing ground of that conviction.This is where vertebrates come in.Deuterostome appears to get the anterior-posterior axis backward (as far as protostomes see it).(E)tienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire forwarded the curious hypothesis that vertebrates are upside-down creatures compared with invertebrates.The endo-vs.exo-skeletal system is another distinguishing feature between them;we lump in the backbone even though it is unique in its own way.Finally,for a good measure,there is the adaptive immunity acquired at this evolutionary transition.