Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Genetics A Brief History of Shifting Paradigms

About this book

Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Genetics is a pithy, lively book occupying a special niche – the conceptual history of evolutionary genetics – not inhabited by any other available treatment. Written by a world-leading authority in evolutionary genetics, Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Genetics encapsulates and ranks 70 of the most significant paradigm shifts in evolutionary biology and genetics during the century-and-a-half since Darwin and Mendel. The science of evolutionary genetics is central to all of biology, but many students and other practitioners have little knowledge of its historical roots and conceptual developments. Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Genetics fills that knowledge gap in a thought-provoking and readable format.

This fascinating chronological journey along the many conceptual pathways to our modern understanding of evolutionary and genetic principles is a wonderful springboard for discussions in undergraduate or graduate seminars in evolutionary biology and genetics. But more than that, anyone interested in the history and philosophy of science will find much of value between its covers.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
References

Part I. The First 50 Years (1859–1910): Laying the Foundations
Chapter 1. 1859 Whose Handiwork?
Chapter 2. 1861 Spontaneous Generation
Chapter 3. 1865 The Nature of Heredity
Chapter 4. 1871 Pre-copulatory Sexual Selection
Chapter 5. 1875 Nature versus Nurture
Chapter 6. 1876 Biogeography
Chapter 7. 1889 Germ Plasm
Chapter 8. 1902 The Etiology of Disabilities
Chapter 9. 1902 Autosomes
Chapter 10. 1905 Epistasis
Chapter 11. 1908 Hardy-Weinberg
Chapter 12. 1909 Genotype versus Phenotype
Chapter 13. 1909 Non-Mendelian Inheritance
Chapter 14. 1910 Sex Chromosomes

Part II. The Next 50 Years (1910–1960): Expanding the Foundations
Chapter 15. 1912 Continental Drift
Chapter 16. 1915 Homeotic Genes
Chapter 17. 1927 Mutation
Chapter 18. 1930 Sex Ratio
Chapter 19. 1932 End of a Debate
Chapter 20. 1935 Biological Species
Chapter 21. 1937 Modern Synthesis
Chapter 22. 1942 Epigenetics
Chapter 23. 1944 Genetic Material
Chapter 24. 1950 Jumping Genes
Chapter 25. 1952 Pluripotency
Chapter 26. 1952 Aging
Chapter 27. 1953 Origins of Life
Chapter 28. 1954 Hybridization
Chapter 29. 1954 Life’s Antiquity
Chapter 30. 1956 Evolution in Action

Part III. The 1960s and 1970s: Dawn of the Molecular Era
Chapter 31. 1963 Molecular Phylogeny
Chapter 32. 1964 Kin Selection
Chapter 33. 1964 Coevolution
Chapter 34. 1965 Molecular Clocks
Chapter 35. 1966 Cladistics
Chapter 36. 1966 Individual Selection
Chapter 37. 1966 Genetic Variation
Chapter 38. 1967 Organelle Origins
Chapter 39. 1968 Genomic Structure
Chapter 40. 1968 Neutrality Theory
Chapter 41. 1969 Gene Regulation
Chapter 42. 1970 The Flow of Information
Chapter 43. 1970 Post-copulatory Sexual Selection
Chapter 44. 1972 Jerky Evolution
Chapter 45. 1972 Recombinant DNA
Chapter 46. 1974 Parent–Offspring Conflict
Chapter 47. 1975 Human Genomic Uniqueness
Chapter 48. 1976 Selfish Genes
Chapter 49. 1977 Split Genes
Chapter 50. 1977 Domains of Life
Chapter 51. 1979 Phylogeography
Chapter 52. 1979 Exaptations
Chapter 53. 1979 Genetic Code

Part IV. Post-1980: Elaborating and Revisiting the Foundations
Chapter 54. 1980 Microbial Clonality
Chapter 55. 1982 Catalyzing New Thoughts
Chapter 56. 1982 Game Theory
Chapter 57. 1983 Conservation Genetics
Chapter 58. 1984 DNA Fingerprinting and Mating Systems
Chapter 59. 1987 Humans Out of Africa
Chapter 60. 1989 Fossil DNA
Chapter 61. 1991 Phylogenetic Character Mapping
Chapter 62. 1992 Evolutionary Psychology
Chapter 63. 1993 Regulatory RNAs
Chapter 64. 1994 Darwinian Medicine
Chapter 65. 1999 Lateral Transfer in the Web of Life
Chapter 66. 2001 Genomic Sequencing
Chapter 67. 2003 Barcoding Life
Chapter 68. 2003 Functional Pseudogenes
Chapter 69. 2004 Adaptive Speciation
Chapter 70. 2010 Comparative Genomics

Epilogue
Glossary
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

John C. Avise is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California at Irvine, and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. His research utilizes molecular markers to study the ecology and evolution of wild animals on topics ranging from genetic parentage and mating behaviors to gene flow, hybridization, phylogeography, speciation, and phylogeny. He has published more than 340 scientific articles and 25 books on a wide variety of evolutionary genetic topics.