| Assimilation, genetic | Environment-dependent phenotypic alterations, which are inherited and fixed in progeny. |
| EcoEvo-Devo | Ecological Evo-Devo processes, directed by environmental conditions. |
| Environment | as used in here, does not only refer to external surrounds of an organism, but internal environments, from molecular to cellular to organismic, etc. |
| Epistemic closure of SET | Mindset of SET proponents to neglect opposing arguments (see 20). |
| Constraints | Development-dependent restrictions on evolution, i.e., physical, or morphogenetic constraints; c.f., tinkering. |
| Epigenetic patterns | Individually acquired molecular changes on DNA or histone levels; epigenetic patterns can be passed on; contradicts Weismann’s barrier. |
| Gene duplication | Important for evolution: entire families of related genes originated via gene duplication (i.e., Hox genes). One of the two duplicated genes first can be redundant to only later take on a certain new function. |
| Genocentrism | Gene-centric determinism of NeoD, postulating that the genotype exclusively determines the phenotype. |
| Gradualism | Concept that evolutionary change occurs at a slow and steady rate; opposite to punctualism. |
| Holism | Here: tendency to establish whole structures (teleonomy; cf. Fig. 4). |
| Hox genes | Important family of developmental genes (master genes). On gene level they present a conserved homeobox (sequence of 180 nucleotides), on protein level a homeodomain of 60 amino acids. |
| Genotype | Genetic outfit of an individual. |
| Canalization | Conditional regulation of development; e.g., by environment; c.f., constraints. |
| Convergence, evolutionary | Independent evolution of similar features in non-related organisms, to adapt to similar environment. |
| Macroevolution | Large and abrupt morphologic changes of species in evolution. |
| Microevolution | Minor evolutionary alterations; c.f., Macroevolution. |
| Modularity | Not only morphology is modular, but also many DNA regions, which can function as enhancers. |
| Mosaic theory of animal development | August Weismann’s postulate, according to which the later cell fate (the cell type) is fixed right after fertilization in so-called cleavage cells. In most cases, this presumption is false. |
| Nature-vs.-Nurture Discussion | Question of relative influences of the genome versus environment on development and life of organisms. |
| Neodarwinism | Standard theory of evolution (SET), as developed in the 1st half of 20th century. |
| Neolamarckism | Epigenetics shows that environmentally-acquired individual traits can - under certain circumstances - be passed on into the next generation. |
| Organoids | Spherical (3D) cell constructs cultured from stem cells, which resemble histotypic tissue or organ structures; cf., cell spheroids. |
| Parsimony, molecular | „Molecular toolbox“: Development works with (is achieved by) a restricted set of genetic and molecular networks. |
| Phenotype | Morphologic appearance of an organism; the organism „as a whole“. |
| Plasticity, phenotypic | Environment-dependent morphologic adaptation, i.e., jaw size dependent on diet; becomes genetically fixed. |
| Pleiotropy | Capacity of a gene to code for various functions in different cells. |
| Ploidy, degree of | Number of sets of chromosomes in a cell, e.g., haploid, diploid, polyploid = single, double and more than double set of chromosomes. |
| Punctualism | Opposite of gradualism, see above. |
| Regulation, biologic | Regeneration of a whole bodily structure from few (stem) cells, i.e., regeneration of lizard tail. |
| Robustness | Property of developmental processes to reliably (re-)establish a certain target structure; cf. teleonomy. |
| Teleology | Directionality of biologic processes, incl. metaphysical “vital” forces; distinction to teleonomy; see next. |
| Teleonomy | Directionality of biologic processes, driven by natural forces; opposite to teleology. |
| The Big Five | 5 major periods of mass extinctions at approx. 440, 365, 250, 210 and 65 mys ago. |
| Tinkering, with „toolbox“ | Spatio-temporal expression of identical or similar genes (or their resp. proteins) can lead to alternate phenotypes, through mechanism of:
Heterotopy (gene expression at different locations of embryo), Heterochrony (g.e. at different times), Heterometry (g.e. defines size or shape of a structure), Heterotypy (g.e. alters respective protein structure).
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| Vitalism, biologic | Meaning here: Life conceived as unique unseizable phenomenon, influenced by some transcendental vital force; cf. teleology. |
| Weismann barrier | Weismann’s obsolete postulate of segregation of early germ and somatic cells; e.g., that genetic information is passed on exclusively via the germline, without any influence from environment; c.f., epigenetic patterns, Neolamarckism. |
