From phenotype to genotype

Advances in the field of genomics have made it possible to decipher the gen etic and transcriptional changes that underlie differences among organisms. Here we discuss the merits and drawbacks of these strategies as they relat e to evolutionary biology. We suggest that the molecular basis of natural v ariation can best be interpreted via the intersection of genomic and transc riptome approaches. We outline how this might be accomplished in practice a nd assemble the components of a method to comprehend the evolutionary inter play between genotype and phenotype.