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MINOR TWEEKS, BIG IMPACT. "Exposure to platinum causes young snails to develop into shell-less, slug-like gastropod molluscs." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

HUGE IMPACT. "Numerous fascinating studies have revealed how minor genetic and molecular tweaks have major ramifications on organismal phenotype." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

PERPETUALLY DYNAMIC. "No aspect of an organism is static, and in studying the history of life we must be mindful of the perpetually unfolding interplay between gene, environment, and anatomy, both dynamically mutating and dynamically selected." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

DYNAMIC INTERACTION. "That the vestigial remnants of true evolutionary changes provide key evidence for evolutionary changes cannot be denied, nor can the dynamic relation between phylogeny and ontogeny. In the famous words of Leigh Van Valen, “Evolution is the control of development by ecology” (except in clades where there is no clear developmental sequence)." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

DEEPLY ENTANGLED. "Vestigial attributes such as pharyngeal pouches reflect the intertwined nature of phylogenetic and ontogenetic transformations that are impossible to disentangle." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this (coincidental?) linking of Morning Glories from the Edo Period in Japan with the emergence of tulip mania in Europe, linked by the Dutch East India Company. Both were prized for extraordinary flower variants, the first caused by transposons, and the second by a virus. What a luxury to be dedicated to rare flowers, oblivious of a world turned topsy-turvy by megalomaniacs and madness. View in LinkedIn

STREAK VIRUS. "Black flower color of dahlia (Dahlia variabilis). We report that the purple color is not caused by a mutation, as previously thought, but by infection with tobacco streak virus. Tobacco streak virus suppressed post-transcriptional gene silencing and caused a flower color change in black dahlias, which supported the role of cyanidin-based anthocyanins for black flower appearance." https://lnkd.in/dSXuMUE View in LinkedIn

VIRAL ERADICATION. "The bulb industry views the destruction of the mosaic virus as one of its proudest achievements, and with good reason. It is the florists’ equivalent of the elimination of smallpox. Yet it can hardly be denied that something has been lost in the winning of this war. The infinite variety that each broken tulip could display is gone, and with it much of the flower’s capacity to fascinate and astound." https://lnkd.in/dkNDdDY View in LinkedIn

ISSUE OF INHERITANCE. "Crucial difference, however, is that whereas scars and other traces of injury (e.g., from regenerated limbs) remain a part of that organism, they are not passed along to the next generation, and in that essential sense they do not conform to a fundamental tenet of vestigiality as commonly understood." https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL PURGING. "Breeders today are trying to make Semper Augustus again. Surprising all of the former tulips have gone extinct and recently breeders eliminate tulips whenever they suspect some viruses to be present." https://lnkd.in/dqpDyTS View in LinkedIn