Behavioral Genetic Toolkits: Toward the Evolutionary Origins of Complex Phenotypes.

Behavioral Genetic Toolkits: Toward the Evolutionary Origins of Complex Phenotypes.
Curr Top Dev Biol. 2016;119:157-204
Authors: Rittschof CC, Robinson GE
Abstract
The discovery of toolkit genes, which are highly conserved genes that consistently regulate the development of similar morphological phenotypes across diverse species, is one of the most well-known observations in the field of evolutionary developmental biology. Surprisingly, this phenomenon is also relevant for a wide array of behavioral phenotypes, despite the fact that these phenotypes are highly complex and regulated by many genes operating in diverse tissues. In this chapter, we review the use of the toolkit concept in the context of behavior, noting the challenges of comparing behaviors and genes across diverse species, but emphasizing the successes in identifying genetic toolkits for behavior; these successes are largely attributable to the creative research approaches fueled by advances in behavioral genomics. We have two general goals: (1) to acknowledge the groundbreaking progress in this field, which offers new approaches to the difficult but exciting challenge of understanding the evolutionary genetic basis of behaviors, some of the most complex phenotypes known, and (2) to provide a theoretical framework that encompasses the scope of behavioral genetic toolkit studies in order to clearly articulate the research questions relevant to the toolkit concept. We emp...

Source: Current Topics in Developmental Biology - June 12, 2016 Category: Biology Authors: Rittschof CC, Robinson GE Tags: Curr Top Dev Biol Source Type: research