Evolution - Great Transformations 5of6

What underlies the incredible diversity of life on Earth? How have complex life forms evolved? The journey from water to land, the return of land mammals to the sea, and the emergence of humans all suggest that creatures past and present are members of a single tree of life.

Make sure to check all the other resources at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• evolution
• whale
• tetrapod
• transitional
• fossils

[JonMDouglas]

Yes. The genetic machinery for the specifics of that eye lie "downstream" in a sort of cascade of messages from one gene/protein to another. These developmental cascades in the fly eye would probably be, at least in some ways, different from those cascades in the mouse eye.

[Mithcoriel]

Whoops, sorry, should have listened more closely. It grows a fly eye. So I guess the exact info for what TYPE of eye it grows would be found somewhere else.

[TemplarX2]

@jaymorpheus11 You misunderstood. They thought the mechanism that control the structure of the body was more complicated.

[jaymorpheus11]

0:55"Nobody thought single genes were powerful enough to control something as complex as the structure of the body"

Yeah, like some magical force from outer space controls it.

[themooddisorders]

eat my liver, I will grow another

[ImAnotherZang]

@Mithcoriel its amazing, identical genes in mouse and fly. who would've thought that mouse genes could be used to make fly eyes? that sounds potentially useful in medical uses

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

Great series

[Mithcoriel]

So did the gene for a mouse-eye, implanted into a fly, make it grow FLY eyes, or something like mouse eyes?

[flumungen]

woo