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. 1984 Sep;81(17):5482–5483. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.17.5482

“Hopeful monsters,” transposons, and Metazoan radiation

Douglas H Erwin 1, James W Valentine 1
PMCID: PMC391729  PMID: 16593511

Abstract

The appearance of many novel morphologies, frequently expressed taxonomically as new phyla, classes, or orders, occurs with such rapidity in evolutionary time that microevolutionary substitutions involving structural genes seem an implausible mechanism. It has been suggested that such novelties are produced by changes in developmental and regulatory structures and patterns rather than by an accumulation of single structural gene changes. The horizontal transmission of genetic material via RNA-based viruses between members of a population may rapidly create intrafertile sub-populations that differ markedly from their parents and form the basis of new morphological types, avoiding the usual fitness problems associated with “hopeful monsters.”

Keywords: origin of novelty, infectious mutation, Phanerozoic trends in higher taxa

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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