Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Homology and the evolutionary process: reply to Haig, Love and Brown on “Homology, Genes and Evolutionary Innovation”

  • Published:
Biology & Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

The Original Article was published on 22 May 2015

The Original Article was published on 25 February 2015

The Original Article was published on 19 July 2014

Abstract

This paper responds to the essay reviews by David Haig, Alan Love and Rachel Brown of my recently published book “Homology, Genes and Evolutionary Innovation” (HGEI). The issues addressed here relate to: (1) the notion of classes and individuals, (2) issues of explanatory value of adaptive and structuralist explanations in evolutionary biology, (3) the role of homology in evolutionary theory, (4) the limits of a pluralist stance vis a vis alternative explanations of homology, as well as (5) the question whether and to what extend the perspective laid out in HGEI can be or should be transferred to other branches of study, like comparative behavioral biology.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For instance at the time of Dante (1265–1321) the sun was still called a “pianeta” (planet) as in “e vidi le sue spalle vestite giá de' raggi del pianeta che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle” referring to the rising sun in Canto I, line 17.

  2. Much space in HGEI is dedicates to explaining what these patterns are and I will not abuse the pages of this journal to repeat that material. See for instance chapter 2 and all of Part II of HGEI, i.e. chapters 8–12.

References

  • Amundson R (2005) The changing role of the embryo in evolutionary thought: roots of evo-devo. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Balari S, Lorenzo G (2013) Computational phenotypes: towards an evolutionary developmental biolinguistics. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Balari S, Lorenzo G (2015) It is an organ, it is new, but it is not a new organ. Conceptualizting language from a homological perspective. Front Ecol, Evol

    Google Scholar 

  • Brayer KJ, Lynch VJ et al (2011) Evolution of a derived protein-protein interaction between HoxA11 and Foxo1a in mammals caused by changes in intramolecular regulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(32):E414–E420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brigandt I (2009) Natural kinds in evolution and systematics: metaphysical and epistemological considerations. Acta Biotheor 57:77–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brigandt I, Love AC (2012) Conceptualizing evolutionary novelty: moving beyong definitional debates. J Exp Zool (Mol Dev Evol) 318:417–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown RL (2015) Why development matters. Biol Philos. doi:10.1007/s10539-015-9488-9

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavalli-Sforza LL, Feldman MW (1976) Evolution of continuous variation: direct approach through joint distribution of genotypes and phenotypes. PNAS 73:1689–1692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang H (2014) Is water H2O? Evidence, realism and pluralism. Springer, Boston

  • Emera D, Wagner GP (2012) Transformation of a transposon into a derived prolactin promoter with function during human pregnancy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(28):11246–11251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emera D, Casola C et al (2011) Convergent evolution of endometrial prolactin expression in primates, mice, and elephants through the independent recruitment of transposable elements. Mol Biol Evol 29(1):239–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghiselin MT (1974) A radical solution to the species problem. Syst Zool 23:536–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghiselin MT (2005) Homology as a relation of correspondence between parts of individuals. Theory Biosci 124:91–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths PE (1997) What emotions really are. The problem of psychological categories. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Haig D (2015) Sameness, novelty, and nominal kinds. Biol Philos. doi:10.1007/s10539-014-9456-9

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoekstra HE, Coyne JA (2007) The locus of evolution: evo devo and the genetics of adaptation. Evolution 61(5):995–1016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin RC (1970) The units of selection. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 1:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenz K (1981) The foundations of ethology. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Love AC (2006) Evolutionary morphology and evo-devo: HIERARCHY and novelty. Theory Biosci 124:317–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Love AC (2013) Theory is as theory does: scientific practice and theory structure in biology. Biol Theory 7:325–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Love A (2015) ChINs, swarms, and variational modalities: concepts in the service of an evolutionary research program. Biol Philos. doi:10.1007/s10539-015-9479-x

    Google Scholar 

  • Love AC, Raff RA (2003) Knowing your ancestors: themes in the history of evo-devo. Evol Dev 5:327–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch M (2007) The frailty of adaptive hypotheses for the origins of organismal complexity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:8597–8604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch VJ, Wagner GP (2008) Resurrecting the role of transcription factor change in developmental evolution. Evolution 62:2131–2154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch VJ, Tanzer A et al (2008) Adaptive changes in the transcription factor HoxA-11 are essential for the evolution of pregnancy in mammals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105(39):14928–14933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch VJ, May G et al (2011) Regulatory evolution through divergence of a phosphoswitch in the transcription factor CEBPB. Nature 480(7377):383–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller GB (2003) Homology: the evolution of morphological organization. In: Müller GB, Newman SA (eds) Origination of organismal form. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 51–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller GB (2010) Epigenetic innovation. In: Pigliucci M, Müller GB (eds) Evolution—the extended synthesis. MIT Press, Boston, pp 307–332

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Müller GB, Streicher J (1989) Ontogeny of the syndesmosis tibiofibularis and the evolution of the bird hindlimb: a caenogenetic feature triggers phenotypic novelty. Anat Embryol 179:327–339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman SA, Müller GB (2001) Epigenetic mechanisms of character origination. In: Wagner GP (ed) The character concept in evolutionary biology. Academic Press, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman SA, Müller GB (2005) Origination and innovation in the vertebrate limb skeleton: an epigenetic perspective. J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol 304(6):593–609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nnamani M, Gangyly S et al (2015) Evolution of conditional cooperativity between HOXA11 and FOXO1 through allosteric regulation. BioArXiv. doi:10.1101/014381

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper KR (1935) Logik der Forschung: zur Erkenntnistheorie der modernen Naturwissenschaft. Springer, Vienna

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Prud’homme B, Gompel N et al (2007) Emerging principles of regulatory evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104(Suppl_1):8605–8612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roth VL (1984) On homology. Biol J Linn Soc 22:13–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roth VL (1988) The biological basis of homology. In: Humphries CJ (ed) Ontogeny and systematics. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholes E III (2008) Evolution of the courtship phenotype in the bird of paradise genus Parotia (Aves: Paradisaeidae): homology, phylogeny, and modularity. Biol J Linn Soc 94:491–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Templeton A (1989) The meaning of species and speciation: a genetic perspective. In: Otte D, Endler JA (eds) Speciation and its consequences. Sunderland, Sinauer, pp 3–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson G (2015) A million years of music: the emergence of human modernity. Zone Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner GP (1989) The biological homology concept. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 20:51–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner GP, Lynch VJ (2010) Evolutionary novelties. Curr Biol 20(2):R48–R52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner GP, Chiu C-H et al (2000) Developmental evolution as a mechanistic science: the inference from developmental mechanisms to evolutionary processes. Am Zool 40:819–831

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams GC (1992) Natural selection: domains, levels and challenges. Oxford University Press, Oxford  

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoshida Y, Nakao H (2015) EvoDevo as a motley aggregation: local integration and conflicting views of genes during the 1980s. Biol Theory 10:156–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, 850 West Campus Drive, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA

    Günter P. Wagner

  2. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University, West Haven, CT, USA

    Günter P. Wagner

Authors
  1. Günter P. Wagner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Günter P. Wagner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wagner, G.P. Homology and the evolutionary process: reply to Haig, Love and Brown on “Homology, Genes and Evolutionary Innovation”. Biol Philos 30, 901–912 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-015-9492-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-015-9492-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation