When Charles Darwin developed his observations into the theory of evolution, he explained it as a slow and gradual process. But what if I told you it’s possible for evolution to also happen instantaneously! A recent study from researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara provides new evidence for this theory. Read on!
“We see nothing of these slow changes in progress, until the hand of time has marked the long lapse of ages”
Charles Darwin in his work, “On the Origin of Species”
Evolution being a slow and gradual process makes a lot of sense in terms of theories such as “humans evolved from fish”
The idea that evolution might occur in larger and more abrupt leaps has been around ever since Darwin proposed the theory of evolution.
Researchers at UCSB had been studying a population of Colorado blue columbines when they noticed that a significant amount of the flowers had lost both their petals and characteristic nectar spurs:
This is a huge change that was caused by a single mutation in a single gene, and the wide-spread change was observed between concurrent generations!
This finding suggests that significant changes can occur in large jumps rather than in multiple small changes over an extended time period.
This observance of the Colorado blue columbine mutation is the first to provide significant evidence to the case that evolution can occur in sudden changes.
And this case of the columbines is so important because the mutation has seem to stick around in the population, with around a quarter of the plants lacking the “original” features.
A closer look into the columbine’s genome provided another surprising discovery:
A single mutation on the gene APETALA3-3 was determined to be responsible for the development of the flower’s petals and nectar spurs.
“The gene is either on or off, so it’s about as simple of a change you can get. But that simple difference causes a radical change in morphology.”
lead author Zachary Cabin
If these flowers (the original and the mutation) were preserved in fossil records, they likely would have been classified as two entirely different plants rather than parent and offspring.
“This finding shows that evolution can occur in a big jump if the right kind of gene is involved. When it’s broken, those instructions aren’t there anymore, and that causes it to develop into a completely different organ, a sepal”
Scott Hodges, a professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
Genes that are in charge of developing an entire organ are called homeotic genes, and a mutation in one of these genes can have a huge impact on the structure and function of an organism.
“Most of the mutations of this nature are going to be like that, just awful,” Hodges continued. “The animal won’t have any chance of surviving. Biologist Richard Goldschmidt called them ‘hopeless monsters.'”
But once in a while, one of these radical homeotic gene mutations will provide a beneficial trait for an environment, creating a “hopeful monster” and driving the presence of this trait in the organism’s population.
This essentially spurs a radical change in the population, and the population will evolve in a quick manner!
“We did not have a good example of a hopeful monster due to a single genetic change,” said Hodges, “until now.” “There’s definitely some luck involved with us being around at the right time to capture this,” Cabin said.
What comes next for this study?
The researchers plan to investigate the DNA around the APETALA3-3 homeotic gene to construct a timeline of when the mutations may have occurred
They also plan to track how the mutation is spreading throughout the population: Do the mutated plants and non-mutated plants interbreed? Are the mutations more suited for the environment they are in?
So all in all, suddenly-evolving populations seem to be driven by the mutation of single homeotic genes (genes entirely in charge of the development of an organ).
More evidence is required to come to the conclusion that evolution can occur in sudden leaps, however it is very tricky to catch these homeotic gene mutations in action – as you have to already be observing the given population.
What are your thoughts on this study?
Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it & will further ponder the knowledge it brings to light. I encourage you to leave a comment and/or start a discussion in the section below!
Feel free to contact me at brainsproutblog@gmail.com and follow the blog @brainsproutblog on Instagram or Twitter for updates!
Read more (sources)!
- https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2022/020547/hopeful-monster
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982222001282?via%3Dihub
- https://www.earth.com/news/colorado-blue-columbines-show-punctuated-evolution-in-action/
- https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/columbines/naturalhistory.shtml
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220216112300.htm
Brain Sprout 
Fascinating! And love that the study was on Coloradan Columbines. 🙂 Isn’t Stephen Jay Gould one of the first proponents of punctuated equilibrium?
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