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This textbook shows readers how models of the genetic processes involved in evolution are made (including natural selection, migration, mutation, and genetic drift in finite populations), and how the models are used to interpret classical and molecular genetic data. The material is intended for advanced level undergraduate courses in genetics and evolutionary biology, graduate students in evolutionary biology and human genetics, and researchers in related fields who wish to learn evolutionary genetics. The topics covered include genetic variation, DNA sequence variability and its measurement, the different types of natural selection and their effects (e.g. the maintenance of variation, directional selection, and adaptation), the interactions between selection and mutation or migration, the description and analysis of variation at multiple sites in the genome, genetic drift, and the effects of spatial structure.
In evolution, most genes survive and spread within populations because they increase the ability of their hosts (or their close relatives) to survive and reproduce. But some genes spread in spite of being harmful to the host organism—by distorting their own transmission to the next generation, or by changing how the host behaves toward relatives. As a consequence, different genes in a single organism can have diametrically opposed interests and adaptations.Covering all species from yeast to humans, Genes in Conflict is the first book to tell the story of selfish genetic elements, those continually appearing stretches of DNA that act narrowly to advance their own replication at the expense of the larger organism. As Austin Burt and Robert Trivers show, these selfish genes are a universal feature of life with pervasive effects, including numerous counter-adaptations. Their spread has created a whole world of socio-genetic interactions within individuals, usually completely hidden from sight.Genes in Conflict introduces the subject of selfish genetic elements in all its aspects, from molecular and genetic to behavioral and evolutionary. Burt and Trivers give us access for the first time to a crucial area of research—now developing at an explosive rate—that is cohering as a unitary whole, with its own logic and interconnected questions, a subject certain to be of enduring importance to our understanding of genetics and evolution.
A pioneering proposal for a pluralistic extension of evolutionary theory, now updated to reflect the most recent research. This new edition of the widely read Evolution in Four Dimensions has been revised to reflect the spate of new discoveries in biology since the book was first published in 2005, offering corrections, an updated bibliography, and a substantial new chapter. Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb's pioneering argument proposes that there is more to heredity than genes. They describe four “dimensions” in heredity—four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Jablonka and Lamb present a richer, more complex view of evolution than that offered by the gene-based Modern Synthesis, arguing that induced and acquired changes also play a role. Their lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors refine their arguments against the vigorous skepticism of the fictional “I.M.” (for Ipcha Mistabra—Aramaic for “the opposite conjecture”). The extensive new chapter, presented engagingly as a dialogue with I.M., updates the information on each of the four dimensions—with special attention to the epigenetic, where there has been an explosion of new research. Praise for the first edition “With courage and verve, and in a style accessible to general readers, Jablonka and Lamb lay out some of the exciting new pathways of Darwinian evolution that have been uncovered by contemporary research.” —Evelyn Fox Keller, MIT, author of Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines “In their beautifully written and impressively argued new book, Jablonka and Lamb show that the evidence from more than fifty years of molecular, behavioral and linguistic studies forces us to reevaluate our inherited understanding of evolution.” —Oren Harman, The New Republic “It is not only an enjoyable read, replete with ideas and facts of interest but it does the most valuable thing a book can do—it makes you think and reexamine your premises and long-held conclusions.” —Adam Wilkins, BioEssays
During the last 50 years, the perception oftransposable elements (TEs) has changed considerably from selfish DNA to sequences that may contribute significantly to genome function and evolution. The recent increased interest in TEs is based on the realization that they are a major genetic component (at least 10--20%) of all organisms and a major contributor to the mutation process. It is currently estimated that 70--80% of spontaneous mutations are the result of TE-mediated insertions, deletions, or chromosomal rearrangements. Thus, it seems at least plausible that TEs may playa significant role in the adaptation and evolution of natural populations and species. The ubiquity of TEs suggests that they are an old component of genomes which have been vertically transmitted through generations over evolutionary time. However, detailed analyses carried out over the last 20 years have revealed several unusual features of TE evolution: (i) TEs can be horizontally transferred between species; (ii) TE evolutionary rates can be dramatically increased by specific inactivation processes, such as the RIP (Repeat Induced Point mutation) mechanism in fungi; (iii) TEs can influence the regulation of other TEs by insertion or deletion; (iv) different classes of TEs in even distantly related species can be remarkably similar in both structure and function.
This book examines the toxicological and health implications of environmental epigenetics and provides knowledge through an interdisciplinary approach. Included in this volume are chapters outlining various environmental risk factors such as phthalates and dietary components, life states such as pregnancy and ageing, hormonal and metabolic considerations and specific disease risks such as cancer cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases. Environmental Epigenetics imparts integrative knowledge of the science of epigenetics and the issues raised in environmental epidemiology. This book is intended to serve both as a reference compendium on environmental epigenetics for scientists in academia, industry and laboratories and as a textbook for graduate level environmental health courses. Environmental Epigenetics imparts integrative knowledge of the science of epigenetics and the issues raised in environmental epidemiology. This book is intended to serve both as a reference compendium on environmental epigenetics for scientists in academia, industry and laboratories and as a textbook for graduate level environmental health courses.
This volume is the result of a symposium entitled "Variation in Life Histories: Genetics and Evolutionary Processes" sponsored by the Program in Evolutionary Ecology and Behavior of the University of Iowa and held in Iowa City on October 13 and 14, 1980. Prompted by a recent upsurge of interest in the evolution of life histories, we chose this topic because of the obvious association between life history traits and Darwinian fit ness. If such an association were to be fruitfully investigated, it would require the closer cooperation of population and evolutionary ecologists and quantitative and population geneticists. To encourage such an association, our symposium had four major aims: first, to facilitate intellectual exchange across disciplines among an array of biologists studying life histories; second, to encourage exploration of genetic variance and covari ance for life history traits; third, to consider the ecological background for genetic vari ability; and finally, to facilitate a comparative overview both within and among species. Obviously such broad aims cannot be met totally in a single volume, but we think we have succeeded reasonably well in providing a representative and nourishing intel lectual feast. We see this book as a stimulus to the coordination of future efforts in an important and expanding area of inquiry. We have divided the book into six sections.
This text is about the central role of evolution in shaping the nature and diversity of the living world. It describes the processes of natural selection, how adaptations arise, and how new species form, as well as summarizing the evidence for evolution
The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.
"To many evolutionary biologists, the central challenge of their discipline is to explain adaptation, the appearance of design in the living world. With the theory of evolution by natural selection, Charles Darwin elegantly showed how a purely mechanistic process can achieve this striking feature of nature. Since then, the way many biologists have thought about evolution and natural selection is as a theory about individual organisms. Over a century later, a subtle but radical shift in perspective emerged with the gene's-eye view of evolution in which natural selection was conceptualized as a struggle between genes for replication and transmission to the next generation. This viewpoint culminated with the publication of The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (Oxford University Press, 1976) and is now commonly referred to as selfish gene thinking. The gene's-eye view has subsequently played a central role in evolutionary biology, although it continues to attract controversy. The central aim of this accessible book is to show how the gene's-eye view differs from the traditional organismal account of evolution, trace its historical origins, clarify typical misunderstandings and, by using examples from contemporary experimental work, show why so many evolutionary biologists still consider it an indispensable heuristic. The book concludes by discussing how selfish gene thinking fits into ongoing debates in evolutionary biology, and what they tell us about the future of the gene's-eye view of evolution."--
Once considered merely `selfish' or `parasitic' DNA, transposable elements are today recognized as being of major biological significance. Not only are these elements a major source of mutation, they have contributed both directly and indirectly to the evolution of genome structure and function. On October 8-10, 1999, 100 molecular biologists and evolutionists representing 11 countries met on the campus of The University of Georgia in Athens for the inaugural Georgia Genetics Symposium. The topics of presentations ranged from how the elements themselves have evolved to the impact transposable elements have had on the evolution of their host genomes. The papers in this volume therefore represent state-of-the-art thinking, by leading world experts in the field, on the evolutionary significance of transposable elements.