Evolutionary Genetics From Molecules to Morphology

About this book

Richard Lewontin is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished evolutionary biologists of our time. He has contributed to science not only by his own work on evolutionary theory and molecular variation and by his influence on the many young scientists who have worked with him but also by asking us to think about the relationships between the science we do and that world we do it in. Sciences in general, and the life sciences in particular, need their own critic, and Lewontin has been an untiring critic of science and its relevance to society. This collection of essays first published in 2000 was produced in honour of Lewontin's 65th birthday.

Evolutionary Genetics has a comprehensive coverage of modern evolutionary genetics from molecules to morphology by a group of star authors, including his students and colleagues. The areas covered are: the mathematical and molecular foundations of population genetics, molecular variation and evolution, selection and genetic polymorphisms, linkage and breeding system evolution, quantitative genetics and phenotypic evolution, gene flow and population structure, speciation, behaviour, and ecology. Evolutionary Genetics brings out the central role of evolutionary genetics in all aspects of its connection to evolutionary biology and is a must for all graduate students and researchers in evolutionary biology.

Contents

List of contributors
Preface Rama Singh and Costas Krimbas

Part A. Population Genetics: Problems, Foundations and Historical Perspectives
Introduction / Costas Krimbas
1. The problem of population genetics / Richard Lewontin
The mathematical foundations of population genetics / W. J. Ewens
3. A natural historian's view of heterosis and related topics / Bruce Wallace
4. The molecular foundation of population genetics / Rama Singh, Walter Eanes, Donal Hickey, Margaret Riley, Lynn King

Part B. Molecular Variation and Evolution
Introduction / Marty Kreitman
5. Population genetics and evolutionary genetics of codon bias / Marty Kreitman and Marcos Antezana
6. Gene conversion is a major determinant of genetic diversity at the DNA level / Andrew Berry and Antonio Barbadilla
7. Evidence for balancing, directional, and background selection in molecular evolution / Steve Schaeffer and Montse Aguade

Part C. Selection and Genetic Polymorphisms
Introduction / Phil Hedrick and Tim Prout
8. Aspects of fitness / Freddy Christiansen and Tim Prout
9. Opposing selection / Tim Prout
10. Analysis of selection in laboratory and field populations / Einar Arnason and Stuart Barker
11. Genetics of complex polymorphisms: parasites and maintenance of the MHC variation / Phil Hedrick and Timothy Kim
12. The population biology of antibiotic resistance / Bruce Levin

Part D. Linkage, Breeding Systems and Evolution
Introduction / Ian Franklin
13. The equilibrium theory of one and two locus systems / Ian Franklin and Marty Feldman
14. Inversion polymorphisms in Drosophila / Costas Krimbas and Jeff Powell
15. The evolution of breeding systems / Marcy Uyenoyama
16. The evolution of sex and recombination / Donal Hickey

Part E. Quantitative Genetics and Phenotypic Evolution
Introduction / Richard Frankham
17. Quantitative genetics and phenotypic evolution / Russell Lande
18. Nature of quantitative genetic variation / Richard Frankham and Kenneth Weber
19. The maintenance of genetic variation in life history traits / Brian Charlesworth and Kim Hughes
20. Population genetics and life-history evolution / Lloyd Demetrius

Part F. Gene Flow, Population Structure and Evolution
Introduction / Monty Slatkin
21. A coalescent view of the population structure / Monty Slatkin
22. Population genetics and evolution of animal mitochondrial DNA / E. Zouros and David Rand
23. Genetic structure and evolution in parthenogenetic animals / Dave Parker and Monica Niklasson
24. Genetic structure of prokaryotic populations / Fred Cohan

Part G. Population genetics and speciation
Introduction / Rama Singh
25. Sexual selection in populations: the facts require a change in the genetic definition of the species / Hampton Carson
26. The role of selection in speciation / Judith Masters
27. The evolutionary genetics of speciation / Jerry Coyne and Allen Orr
28. Toward a unified theory of speciation / Rama Singh

Part H. Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution
Introduction / Subodh Jain
29. From population genetics to evolutionary genetics: a view through the trees / Joseph Felsenstein
30. Attitudes to animal behaviour / John Maynard Smith
31. The evolution of social behaviour / Deborah Gordon
32. Population genetics and evolutionary ecology: a progress report / Subodh Jain

Index

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