Diachronic Biology Meets Evo-Devo: C. H. Waddington's Approach to Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Abstract Conrad Hal Waddington (1905–1975) did not respect the traditional boundaries established between genetics, embryology, and evolutionary biology. Rather, he viewed them together as a “diachronic biology.” In this diachronic biology, evolutionary change was caused by heritable alterations in development. Stabilizing selection within the embryo was followed by normative selection on the adult. To explain evolution, Waddington had to invent many concepts and terms, some of which have retained their usage and some of which have not. In this paper I seek to explicate Waddington's ideas and evaluate their usefulness for contemporary evolutionary developmental biology.

[1]  A. Fainsod,et al.  The Xvex-1 antimorph reveals the temporal competence for organizer formation and an early role for ventral homeobox genes , 2000, Mechanisms of Development.

[2]  C. Ware,et al.  Mesenchymal to Epithelial Conversion in Rat Metanephros Is Induced by LIF , 1999, Cell.

[3]  C H WADDINGTON,et al.  Genetic assimilation. , 1961, Advances in genetics.

[4]  Scott F. Gilbert,et al.  Epigenetic landscaping: Waddington's use of cell fate bifurcation diagrams , 1991 .

[5]  L. Silver,et al.  Tbx6, a mouse T-Box gene implicated in paraxial mesoderm formation at gastrulation. , 1996, Developmental biology.

[6]  D. Roff.  Phenotypic Evolution — A Reaction Norm Perspective , 1999, Heredity.

[7]  J. Gerhart,et al.  Formation and function of Spemann's organizer. , 1997, Annual review of cell and developmental biology.

[8]  M. B. Adams.  The Evolution of Theodosius Dobzhansky: Essays on His Life and Thought in Russia and America , 1994 .

[9]  C. Waddington.  The evolution of an evolutionist , 1975 .

[10]  V. Nanjundiah,et al.  Trans gene regulation in adaptive evolution: a genetic algorithm model. , 1997, Journal of theoretical biology.

[11]  R. McKay,et al.  Embryonic stem cell-derived glial precursors: a source of myelinating transplants. , 1999, Science.

[12]  C. Waddington.  Canalization of Development and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters , 1942, Nature.

[13]  J. Piatigorsky,et al.  The recruitment of crystallins: new functions precede gene duplication , 1991, Science.

[14]  U. Wolf.  Identical mutations and phenotypic variation , 1997, Human Genetics.

[15]  R. Matsuda.  Animal evolution in changing environments: with special reference to abnormal metamorphosis , 1989 .

[16]  S. Lindquist,et al.  Hsp90 as a capacitor for morphological evolution , 1998, Nature.

[17]  K. Eto,et al.  Uchida rat (rSey): a new mutant rat with craniofacial abnormalities resembling those of the mouse Sey mutant. , 1994, Differentiation; research in biological diversity.

[18]  S. Gilbert,et al.  Induction and the origins of developmental genetics. , 1991, Developmental biology.

[19]  R. Matsuda.  The evolutionary process in talitrid amphipods and salamanders in changing environments, with a discussion of "genetic assimilation" and some other evolutionary concepts , 1982 .

[20]  T. Jessell,et al.  A Role for the Roof Plate and Its Resident TGFβ-Related Proteins in Neuronal Patterning in the Dorsal Spinal Cord , 1997, Cell.

[21]  G B Müller,et al.  Epigenetic mechanisms of character origination. , 2000, The Journal of experimental zoology.

[22]  N. Freire‐Maia.  A heterozygot expression of a 'recessive' gene? , 1975, Human heredity.

[23]  B. Hall.  Waddington's Legacy in Development and Evolution , 1992 .

[24]  Virginia E. Papaioannou,et al.  Three neural tubes in mouse embryos with mutations in the T-box gene Tbx6 , 1998, Nature.

[25]  C. Waddington,et al.  GENETIC ASSIMILATION OF AN ACQUIRED CHARACTER , 1953 .

[26]  L. Wolpert.  Developmental Biology , 1968, Nature.

[27]  H. Nijhout,et al.  The development and evolution of butterfly wing patterns , 1991 .

[28]  P. Saunders,et al.  Bithorax phenocopy and pattern formation. I. Spatiotemporal characteristics of the phenocopy response. , 1983, Experimental cell biology.

[29]  C. Waddington.  Organisers and genes. , 1943 .

[30]  H. Nijhout,et al.  Developmental Models and Polygenic Characters , 1997, The American Naturalist.

[31]  I. Schmalhausen,et al.  Factors of evolution , 1949 .

[32]  P. Saunders,et al.  Bithorax Phenocopy and Pattern Formation , 1983 .

[33]  P. Carroll,et al.  Neurons derived in vitro from ES cells express homeoproteins characteristic of motoneurons and interneurons , 1998, Mechanisms of Development.

[34]  G. Wagner,et al.  A POPULATION GENETIC THEORY OF CANALIZATION , 1997, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[35]  S. Gilbert,et al.  Spemann's organizer: models and molecules , 1993, Mechanisms of Development.

[36]  S. Gould.  The Shape of Life , 1996 .

[37]  S. Gilbert.  Genes Classical And Genes Developmental: The Different Uses Of The Gene In Evolutionary Synthesis , 2000 .

[38]  C. Waddington.  An introduction to modern genetics, by C.H. Waddington ... , 1939 .

[39]  J. Haldane,et al.  “Introduction to Modern Genetics” , 1939, Nature.

[40]  Einar M. Rønquist,et al.  Foreword , 1999, Biological Psychiatry.

[41]  J. Rubenstein,et al.  Homeobox gene Nkx2.2 and specification of neuronal identity by graded Sonic hedgehog signalling , 1999, Nature.

[42]  C. H. Waddington,et al.  Principles of Embryology , 2016 .

[43]  C. Waddington,et al.  GENETIC ASSIMILATION OF THE BITHORAX PHENOTYPE , 1956 .

[44]  R. Tollrian,et al.  The Ecology and Evolution of Inducible Defenses , 1990, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[45]  R. Raff.  The Shape of Life , 1996 .

[46]  K. Hirschhorn,et al.  New Patterns in Genetics and Development , 1963 .