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Atavisms: medical, genetic, and evolutionary implications.

Nenad Tomić¹, Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow

¹Hospital Universitario de Canarias-Unidád Mixta de Investigación, Facultad de Medicina, Campus de Ofra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

|August 23, 2011

Summary

Evolutionary traits thought lost can reappear as atavisms, challenging Dollo's law. This phenomenon shows that dormant genetic information can be reactivated, offering insights into evolutionary biology.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Genetics
Developmental biology

Background:

Traits presumed lost during evolution can reappear unexpectedly in a species.
These reappearing traits, known as atavisms, include examples like human tails or whale hind limbs.
Atavisms appear to contradict Dollo's law, which states that evolutionary return to a previous stage is impossible.

Purpose of the Study:

To present striking examples of atavistic features.
To discuss controversial topics such as human quadrupedalism in the context of atavisms.
To review current understanding of the mechanisms underlying atavistic trait reactivation.

Main Methods:

Review of scientific literature on atavisms.
Analysis of case studies of atavistic occurrences.
Discussion of genetic and developmental mechanisms.

Main Results:

Atavisms demonstrate that genetic information for ancestral traits may remain dormant rather than being erased.
Examples provided include human extra nipples, whale hind limbs, bird teeth, and insect wings.
Human quadrupedalism is presented as a debated example of a potential atavism.

Conclusions:

Atavisms challenge fundamental evolutionary principles like Dollo's law.
The reactivation of dormant genes is key to understanding atavisms.
Further research is needed to fully elucidate the triggers and controls of atavistic features.