Comparative studies on limb morphogenesis in mice and bats: a functional genetic approach towards a molecular understanding of diversity in organ formation

The basis of species-specific morphogenesis has been a topic of fascination and speculation for centuries. In 1828, Karl Ernst von Baer noted that at the pharyngula stage of development all vertebrate embryos are morphologically very similar. Most subsequent hypotheses have proposed that the vertebrate body plan develops by a conserved mechanism, and that divergent forms develop by differential elaboration on this basic plan. Gene cloning and expression studies have largely confirmed that the genetic pathways of embryonic patterning are highly conserved. The finding that the proteins encoded by paralogous and orthologous genes within and between species can functionally replace each another is no longer novel; in most cases this is the expected result. How, then, does divergent morphology arise between species? One hypothesis that fits well with comparative data is that divergent morphogenesis arises from genetic differences in the timing, level and pattern of orthologous gene expression during development. This idea is being tested using a functional genetic approach comparing limb morphogenesis between the mouse and bat.