Integrated Molecular Evolution

About this book

This book provides an in-depth look at the processes involved in evolution at the molecular and cellular levels. It begins with a broad overview of evolution, including a discussion of chemical evolution, the RNA world, and biological evolution. Covering the basics, it reviews nucleic acids, amino acids, peptides, and proteins, as well as genome organization and expression, mutation, and selection. In addition, the text presents the central dogma of molecular biology with all of its parts, amino acids, and peptides. The final chapters detail the methods used to study molecular evolution.

Contents

1. Definitions of Life
2. Earth and Evolution
3. DNA -> RNA -> Proteins
4. The Central Dogma and Beyond
5. Evolution of Ribosomes, Ribosomal RNA, and Translation
6. DNA Replication
7. DNA Segregation
8. Changes to DNA
9. Viruses, Plasmids, Transposons, and Introns
10. Species, Taxonomy, and Gene Flow
11. Multigene Families
12. Phylogenetics: Evolutionary Reconstructions
13. Genomes I: RNA Viruses
14. Genomes II: DNA Viruses
15. Genomes III: Bacteria and Archaea
16. Genomes IV: Mutualists and Pathogens
17. Genomes V: Endosymbionts and Organelles
18. Genomes VI: Eukaryotic Genomes

Bibliography

Customer Reviews

Biography

Scott O. Rogers, PhD, is a professor of molecular biology at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. He received his BS and MS degrees in Biology from the University of Oregon, Eugene, and PhD in Plant Molecular Biology from the University of Washington, Seattle. He was an assistant professor and associate professor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York, from 1989 through 2001, before moving to BGSU. He has taught courses in biology, botany, cell physiology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, bioinformatics, and molecular evolution. Research in his lab includes studies of microbes in ice, life in extreme environments, group I introns, molecular microbial phylogenetics, microbial metagenomics, ancient DNA, and plant development.