STANFORD RESEARCHERS DEVELOP SYSTEM FOR FIELD TESTING MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION

STANFORD RESEARCHERS DEVELOP SYSTEM FOR FIELD TESTING MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION: "Kingsley said they found a number of parallels between traditional laboratory genetics and the traits they examined in the stickleback populations. For example, many of the traits could be traced to major chromosome regions - indicating that evolution can occur through changes of large effect, not just as a series of small changes. Their findings also indicate that genetic control of body regions appears to be modular. The genes that control the length of the first dorsal spine, for instance, are located on different chromosome regions from the genes that control the
length of the second dorsal spine. This is not surprising, said Kingsley, because it follows previous findings of the genetic control of mouse skeleton development. As anyone who plays with Legos can testify to, a modular body plan greatly increases the options for tweaking designs over time."