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Cells in Evolutionary Biology summarizes the ways evolutionary theory has influenced the development of cell biology. Chapters explore Darwin's use of cells in his theory of evolution. Weismann's contrarian germ plasm theory will be assessed from several perspectives. The discovery of genes and the rise of genetics, the use of embryos for the identification of cell lineages, evidence of cytoplasmic inheritance in protozoans, and investigations of divergent nuclear control in prokaryotes and in eukaryotes provided new potential synergies between cell biology and evolutionary theory. The identification of cellular condensations as the modular basis of embryonic development returned cells to centre stage.
- The role and autonomy of cells in phylogeny and evolution circa 1840-1865
- Germ plasm theory and cells in evolutionary biology
- The discovery of genes and the rise of genetics from 1900 in usurped cells in evolutionary biology
- The study of cells, embryos and evolution through identification of cell lineages
- Experimental embryology, nuclear or cytoplasmic control of development
- Cytoplasmic inheritance in protozoans and divergent evolution of prokaryotes and eukaryotes
- Structural (TEM) analyses of cells: evolution of cells, organelles and cell number
- Recognition of the Archaea, different relationships and kingdoms of life
- Cellular condensations, modularity and evolution of the phenotype
Brian Keith Hall FRSC (born, 1941) is the George S. Campbell Professor of Biology and University Research Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Professor Hall has researched and extensively written on bone and cartilage formation in developing vertebrate embryos. He is an active participant in the evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) debate on the nature and mechanisms of animal body plan formation. Professor Hall has proposed that the neural crest tissue of vertebrates may be viewed as a fourth embryonic germ layer. As such, the neural crest – in Hall's view – plays a role equivalent to that of the endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm of bilaterian development and is a definitive feature of vertebrates (as hypothesized by Gans and Northcutt [1983]). As such, vertebrates are the only quadroblastic, rather than triploblastic bilaterian animals. In vertebrates the neural crest serves to integrate the somatic division (derived from ectoderm and mesoderm) and visceral division (derived from endoderm and mesoderm) together via a wide range novel vertebrate tissues (bone, cartilage, sympathetic nervous system, etc.). He has been associated with Dalhousie University since 1968. Since his retirement in 2007, he has been University Research Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Professor of Biology.
Sally Moody is Professor of Anatomy and Regenerative Biology and a member of the GW Institute of Neurobiology at George Washington University. Dr. Moody's laboratory studies two aspects of neural developmental gene regulatory networks: (1) molecular mechanisms by which FoxD5, a forkhead/winged helix transcription factor, regulates other neural genes to control the transition from an immature to a pre-differentiation state in the neural plate; and (2) novel co-factors and down-stream targets of the Six1 transcription factor, a key regulatory gene that specifies placode-derived sensory structures of the vertebrate head. This information is being used to discover new genes involved in neural tube and craniofacial birth defects.
" [...] the book is a very welcome collection of chapters that offers a good overview of the role of cells in EvoDevo. It can be recommended to anyone starting to do research in this field and should be on the bookshelf in all laboratories working in fields related to its contents. In short, a great book that taught me a lot about both subjects I thought I knew something about, and about new and exciting aspects of the role of cells in EvoDevo."
– Lennart Olsson. 2020. In Evolution & Development, 22
"Cells in Evolutionary Biology is the first volume in a series. It provides a valuable historical context and review not only of the cell and evolutionary biology fields, but of developmental and molecular biology as well. Readers will gain an appreciation for the history and philosophy underlying their fields, a perspective less frequently covered in the basic textbooks used in coursework. The volume includes chapters from authors specializing not only in biology and its subfields, but in culture and philosophy. It opens with the origins of cell theory and germ plasm theory, ideas that laid the groundwork for our modern understanding of evolution. It covers historical debate regarding the origin of eukaryotic cells and of multicellular organisms with differentiated tissue types. It successfully dissects topics generally accepted as fact and guides the reader through the thought process that led to that status. To appreciate this text, a solid understanding of the current science is prerequisite. As such, this extremely interesting volume is best suited to graduate level students and established researchers."
– D. Schulman, Lake Erie College
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