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 xiv
... selection. Consider the honeybees; they have evolved elaborate “dance” behaviors that allow them to communicate to ... positive selection. In contrast, selection against recurrent deleterious mutations is called negative selection ...
... selection. Consider the honeybees; they have evolved elaborate “dance” behaviors that allow them to communicate to ... positive selection. In contrast, selection against recurrent deleterious mutations is called negative selection ...
Page xv
... positive and balancing selection. These Darwinian detectives start with figuring out what would happen if no positive or balancing selection operated. They then look for deviations from those expected patterns, and these deviations (if ...
... positive and balancing selection. These Darwinian detectives start with figuring out what would happen if no positive or balancing selection operated. They then look for deviations from those expected patterns, and these deviations (if ...
Page xix
... Selection 37 Negative Selection and the Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution 43 Detecting Positive Selection 57 Balancing Selection and Disease 71 INTERLUDE II: Human Origins and Evolution 83 Finding Our Roots: Did “Eve” Know “Adam ...
... Selection 37 Negative Selection and the Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution 43 Detecting Positive Selection 57 Balancing Selection and Disease 71 INTERLUDE II: Human Origins and Evolution 83 Finding Our Roots: Did “Eve” Know “Adam ...
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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