Darwinian Detectives: Revealing the Natural History of Genes and GenomesBiology is often viewed today as a bipartisan field, with molecular level genetics guiding us into the future and natural history (including ecology, evolution, and conservation biology,) chaining us to a descriptive scientific past. In Darwinian Detectives, Norman Johnson bridges this divide, revealing how the tried and true tools of natural history make sense of the newest genomic discoveries. Molecular scientists exploring newly sequenced genomes have stumbled upon quite a few surprises, including that only one to ten percent of the genetic material of animals actually codes for genes. What does the remaining 90-99% of the genome do? Why do some organisms have a much lower genome size than their close relatives? What were the genetic changes that were associated with us becoming human? As molecular biologists uncover these and other new mysteries, evolutionary geneticists are searching for answers to such questions. Norman Johnson captures the excitement of the hunt for our own genetic history. Through lively anecdotes, he explores how researchers detect natural selection acting on genes and what this genetic information tells us about human origins. |
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Page iv
... Molecular genetics. I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Selection (Genetics) 2. Evolution. 3. Genetics. 4. Genomics. 5. Natural History. QU 475 Jó8d 2007] QH390.J64 2007 572.8'38—dc22 2006O23079 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America ...
... Molecular genetics. I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Selection (Genetics) 2. Evolution. 3. Genetics. 4. Genomics. 5. Natural History. QU 475 Jó8d 2007] QH390.J64 2007 572.8'38—dc22 2006O23079 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America ...
Page vii
... Molecular biologists work out that the sickling is usually due to a single amino acid change in the string of amino ... molecules shows God's Providence at work in the world. A world where biologists only document the details of God's ...
... Molecular biologists work out that the sickling is usually due to a single amino acid change in the string of amino ... molecules shows God's Providence at work in the world. A world where biologists only document the details of God's ...
Page xi
... molecules. Although we have understood that DNA is the genetic material since the s and have known DNA's biochemical structure since , scientists had not had the ability to rapidly determine the sequences of DNA until ...
... molecules. Although we have understood that DNA is the genetic material since the s and have known DNA's biochemical structure since , scientists had not had the ability to rapidly determine the sequences of DNA until ...
Page xii
... molecular biologists often dismiss these older fields with the pejorative label “natural history.” When challenged, those studying ecology and evolution often counter with statements that the lab-bound scientists aren't really studying ...
... molecular biologists often dismiss these older fields with the pejorative label “natural history.” When challenged, those studying ecology and evolution often counter with statements that the lab-bound scientists aren't really studying ...
Page xiii
... molecular genetics as well as evolutionary biology to be fully addressed. Not all genes within the same genome have the same evolutionary histories; different regions of genome can experience considerably dissimilar environments. The ...
... molecular genetics as well as evolutionary biology to be fully addressed. Not all genes within the same genome have the same evolutionary histories; different regions of genome can experience considerably dissimilar environments. The ...
Contents
Why Evolution Still Matters | 3 |
2 Why Intelligent Design Is Not Science | 17 |
Natural Selection | 37 |
Human Origins and Evolution | 83 |
Notes | 185 |
Glossary | 197 |
201 | |
213 | |
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Africa amino acid balancing selection Behe billion nucleotides biology bonobos brain breeds changes chapter chimps chromosome clicks closest relatives colleagues complex correlated Darwin Darwinian deleterious detect disease divergence DNA sequences dogs domesticated effective population size effective population sizes estimate evidence evolutionary biologists evolutionary geneticists evolve exists females FOXP frequency function genes genetic drift genetic variants genome size haplotypes hemoglobin heterozygotes Homo homozygotes human genome human lineage humans and chimpanzees humans and Neanderthals hypothesis individuals insects intelligent design introns Kimura language less maize males mammals mitochondrial DNA mitochondrial Eve modern humans molecular evolution molecules mtDNA natural selection Neanderthals negative selection neutral theory nucleotides occurred organisms origins patterns plants polymorphism positive selection protein pufferfish recent common ancestor regulatory region replacement researchers result scientific scientists silent sites similar species teosinte traits transposable elements vertebrates virus Y chromosome Y-chromosome Y-chromosome Adam