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Caltech-led Team Shows How Evolution Can Allow for Large Developmental Leaps


July 20, 2009

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Most evolutionary changes happen in tiny increments. But when it comes to traits, like the number of wings on an insect or limbs on a primate, there is no middle ground. How are these sorts of large evolutionary leaps made? According to a team led by scientists at Caltech, such changes may at least sometimes be the result of random fluctuations, or noise (nongenetic variations), working alongside a phenomenon known as partial penetrance.Full Story

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California Institute of Technology

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