Many a mickle makes a muckle: How changes in animals’ size and shape arise
Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 07:31
in Biology & Nature
The natural world contains great diversity in the shape and size of organisms. But how does this variety evolve? Researchers are investigating changes in morphology in fruit flies and have managed to show how a gene enhancer (a piece of DNA that controls the timing and level of a gene’s expression) can change its function through stepwise changes in DNA sequence to give rise to differences in animals’ appearance.