Regulating Evolution is the summary of a new scientific discovery by evolutionary biologists. Since the discovery of evolution, it had been thought that for an organism (especially anatomical, this article focuses on changes in body structure rather than function) to undergo some kind of change, the actual gene that was responsible for the protein production of that element would have to undergo a change. It has been found that it is far more common for the gene enhancer (a protein whose existence determines the recognition of a specific protein production) to alter, causing changes in the organism. From an evolutionary standpoint, this seems more feasible than an entire gene or enhancer sequence (the area of the DNA that the enhancers bond to) to be modified through natural selection, for this change would be present in the nucleus of every single cell in the organism. As there is always a reason for being in natural selection, or in this case, the natural selection of natural selection, the reason why this is so is because of the prevalence of pleiotropic genes (that is, genes that are responsible for multiple structure formations in the organism). This means that, without the alteration of an enhancer, if a change in environment called for a decrease in black pigment in the organism's back tissue, every part of the organism who's structural guide (i.e. DNA) depended on the gene that required alteration would be changed coincidentally. By disabling or enabling the transcription factor that bonds to the area of the enhancer sequence responsible for the change in pigment in the location required, one may change the gene "expression," (what proteins the gene is responsible for producing in that specific cell) without altering the actual gene itself. This allows natural selection to be, in a sense, even more "selective" than an entire gene
alteration. Understanding that nature has an unyielding desire for simplicity, this seems
perfectly reasonable to me. I think the article presented the discovery clearly, and was overall very informative and fascinating.