Everything about Pedomorphosis totally explained
In
developmental biology,
pedomorphosis (also spelled
paedomorphosis) or
juvenification is a
phenotypic and/or
genotypic change in which the adults of a species retain traits previously seen only in
juveniles.
Peramorphosis is change in the reverse direction. Pedomorphosis was first proposed by
Walter Garstang in
1922. The underlying mechanisms for this include
heterochrony.
Pedomorphosis is common in many animal species
domesticated by humans, including
dogs,
chickens,
pigs and
cattle. It is believed to be a side-effect of the
selective pressure of human-directed
breeding for juvenile behavioral characteristics such as docility.
Natural pedomorphosis occurs in many species of
amphibians, especially
ambystomatid and
protean salamanders. In amphibians it can be
obligate or
facultative. For example, some salamanders retain their
gills during adulthood, unlike most other amphibians. It is assumed that at some point in the past, they too would lose their gills, but some genetic change caused them to be retained, at a point where it was evolutionarily advantageous or neutral. Pedomorphosis also occurs in
termites and several species of
cockroach.
Humans are considered by some scientists to be pedomorphic, due to their flattened face, short
jaw, and bulbous
forehead compared to other adult
primates.
Pedomorphosis also occurs in some
plants, which change rapidly in response to environmental shifts. One example is the single species in the genus
Oreostylidium, where a
founder population of a more specialized plant from
Australia reached
New Zealand. The flowers were typically associated with a single
pollinator species, but pollinators were unspecialized in its new home. It is hypothesized that in response to this new lack of pollinator pressure, the plants underwent a rapid evolution that allowed flowers to reach sexual maturity earlier as immature plants, thus fueling the pedomorphic change.
There are several kinds of pedomorphism which may appear independently or in combination:
- Neoteny, in which somatic (or physical) development is slowed, resulting in a sexually mature juvenile or larval form.
- Progenesis, in which development is halted before full maturity.
- Postdisplacement, in which the start of development is delayed.
Further Information
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