2018年1月3日，Nature Plants发表了题为“Two genetic changes in cis-regulatory elements caused evolution of petal spot position in Clarkia”的文章。文章揭示了克拉花斑点位置的进化是由顺式调控元件的变化所引起的。R2R3 Myb基因中的转录因子结合位点突变，会被在花瓣中不同位置表达的其他转录因子激活，改变其斑点形成。

进化发育生物学的一个主要前提是，通常涉及顺式调控元件的调控变化负责很多形态学的进化。最近对动物发育的研究支持了这个前提，但是关于它是否也适用于植物形态的进化，这方面的研究刚刚起步。这里，对于负责花卉色彩模式的生态重要元素的进化变化：斑点位置，我们鉴定了其在克拉花亚属物种之间的遗传差异。斑点位置的进化转变是由于两个简单的遗传变化，即R2R3 Myb基因中的转录因子结合位点突变的出现，改变其斑点形成。这些遗传变化导致R2R3 Myb被在花瓣中不同位置表达的不同转录因子激活。这些结果表明，与动物中相同，重新布局调控同样适用于植物，并支持独顺式调控变化往往可能在植物形态进化中发挥作用的假说。

A major premise in evolutionary developmental biology is that regulatory changes, often involving cis-regulatory elements, are responsible for much morphological evolution. This premise is supported by recent investigations of animal development, but information is just beginning to accumulate regarding whether it also applies to the evolution of plant morphology. Here, we identify the genetic differences between species in the genus Clarkia that are responsible for evolutionary change in an ecologically important element of floral colour patterns: spot position. The evolutionary shift in spot position was due to two simple genetic changes that resulted in the appearance of a transcription factor binding site mutation in the R2R3 Myb gene that changes spot formation. These genetic changes caused R2R3 Myb to be activated by a different transcription factor that is expressed in a different position in the petal. These results suggest that the regulatory rewiring paradigm is as applicable to plants as it is to animals, and support the hypothesis that cis-regulatory changes may often play a role in plant morphological evolution.