Evo-Devo (Despacito Biology Parody) | A Capella Science

Tim Blais explains the principles of evolutionary developmental biology and genetics through an a capella parody of the song Despacito.

This is how we go from single cells to people. Support A Capella Science: patreon.com/acapellascience Subscribe! youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=acapellascience MP3: timblais.bandcamp.com/track/evo-devo ---------------- A CAPELLA SCIENCE STUFF: Patreon: patreon.com/acapellascience Facebook: facebook.com/acapellascience Twitter: twitter.com/acapellascience Bohemian Gravity poster: store.dftba.com/products/bohemian-gravity-poster Follow me @acapellascience on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat! EVO-DEVO Huxley B. Mac. Oh Carroll, Carroll Gould, Stephen Jay yeah D-D-D-D-Davidson and Peter See One cell divide and decide on a thousand fates Did you ever figure how they know? B. Mac. We Are built of modules combined in a planned out way Each new piece must be told where to go Oh Now there's a science helping us to understand How our cells encode this architectural plan Signalling each other with genetic tools oh Oh yeah Wow Phenotype the interface for mouse and man Genotype the files and the subprograms What then are the switches, circuit boards and boot code? Evo-Devo Looking at the logic in the ways that we grow Every gene directed by a signal key code Proteins that can activate, enhance or veto Evo-Devo Signals are controlled by other genes that signal Calculating in a network labyrinthal Where the heart and liver and the hands and feet go Signal mapping tells each region what it ought to be yo With circuits so deeply built upon They're older than the Paleo The Paleozoic Era baby In a crucial pathway changes tend to get torpedoed Where they go calamity goes As this cyclopic sheep knows.. See down they cascade like a domino Like you and I drosophila The path that makes us optical Was laid a long long time ago Back before we blew up the cambrian like a bomb bomb Now my eye protein can make you see out of your bom bom And Hedgehog and its relatives like Indian and Sonic Set up set up in a gradient on segments embryonic Split forebrains and asymmetric parts depend upon it Flipping on genetic switches and logic From devo to evo Adult and embryo Mostly don't evolve in the genes of the genome Safer the mutation aimed at regulation Keep the building blocks and swap their activation From devo to evo Parts have alter egos Homologs evolved from repeats in the schema Switch a couple bases in the proper places You'll be watching flies grow legs out of their faces oh yeah Evo-Devo Stick around for Modern Synthesis the sequel Only by combining can a new theory grow Evolution and development amigos Evo-Devo Signals trigger patterns of complexity so Switching up the switches of a signalling node Gives a modular and simple way to evolve Look at how our spinal segments generate a neat row Built on a molecular clock One cycle, one vertebra One vertebra one vertebra baby Speeding up its rate is snakes' developmental cheat code That and where a lizard's feet grow They turn off distal aminos Evo-Devo T