Reticulate Evolution and Humans

Reticulate Evolution and Humans

Author: Michael L. Arnold

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 0199539588

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This book describes the important role that the transfer of genes between organisms has played during the origin and evolution of humans, and the evolution of organisms on which the human species depends for shelter, sustenance and companionship.


Reticulate Evolution

Reticulate Evolution

Author: Nathalie Gontier

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-07-09

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 3319163450

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Written for non-experts, this volume introduces the mechanisms that underlie reticulate evolution. Chapters are either accompanied with glossaries that explain new terminology or timelines that position pioneering scholars and their major discoveries in their historical contexts. The contributing authors outline the history and original context of discovery of symbiosis, symbiogenesis, lateral gene transfer, hybridization or divergence with gene flow and infectious heredity. By applying key insights from the areas of molecular (phylo)genetics, microbiology, virology, ecology, systematics, immunology, epidemiology and computational science, they demonstrate how reticulate evolution impacts successful survival, fitness and speciation. Reticulate evolution brings forth a challenge to the standard Neo-Darwinian framework, which defines life as the outcome of bifurcation and ramification patterns brought forth by the vertical mechanism of natural selection. Reticulate evolution puts forward a pattern in the tree of life that is characterized by horizontal mergings and lineage crossings induced by symbiosis, symbiogenesis, lateral gene transfer, hybridization or divergence with gene flow and infective heredity, making the “tree of life” look more like a “web of life.” On an epistemological level, the various means by which hereditary material can be transferred horizontally challenges our classic notions of units and levels of evolution, fitness, modes of transmission, linearity, communities and biological individuality. The case studies presented examine topics including the origin of the eukaryotic cell and its organelles through symbiogenesis; the origin of algae through primary and secondary symbiosis and dinoflagellates through tertiary symbiosis; the superorganism and holobiont as units of evolution; how endosymbiosis induces speciation in multicellular life forms; transferrable and non-transferrable plasmids and how they symbiotically interact with their host; the means by which pro- and eukaryotic organisms transfer genes laterally (bacterial transformation, transduction and conjugation as well as transposons and other mobile genetic elements); hybridization and divergence with gene flow in sexually-reproducing individuals; current (human) microbiome and viriome studies that impact our knowledge concerning the evolution of organismal health and acquired immunity; and how symbiosis and symbiogenesis can be modelled in computational evolution.


The Rye Genome

The Rye Genome

Author: M. Timothy Rabanus-Wallace

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-10-25

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 3030833836

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This book celebrates the dawn of the rye genomics era with concise, comprehensive, and accessible reviews on the current state of rye genomic research, written by experts in the field for students, researchers and growers. To most, rye is the key ingredient in a flavoursome bread or their favourite American whisky. To a farmer, rye is the remarkable grain that tolerates the harshest winters and the most unforgiving soils, befitting its legacy as the life-giving seed that fed the ancient civilisations of northern Eurasia. Since the mid-1900s, scientists have employed genetic approaches to better understand and utilize rye, but only since the technological advances of the mid-2010s has the possibility of addressing questions using rye genome assemblies become a reality. Alongside the secret of its unique survival abilities, rye genomics has accelerated research on a host of intriguing topics such as the complex history of rye’s domestication by humans, the nature of genes that switch fertility on and off, the function and origin of accessory chromosomes, and the evolution of selfish DNA.


In the Light of Evolution

In the Light of Evolution

Author: National Academy of Sciences

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13:

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The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.


Divergence with Genetic Exchange

Divergence with Genetic Exchange

Author: Michael Lynn Arnold

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0198755112

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This book is an investigation into processes associated with evolutionary divergence and diversification, focussing on the role played by the exchange of genes between divergent lineages.


Molecular and Genome Evolution

Molecular and Genome Evolution

Author: Dan Graur

Publisher: Sinauer

Published: 2015-01-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781605354699

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This book describes the driving forces behind the evolutionary process at the molecular and genome levels, the effects of the various molecular mechanisms on the structure of genes, proteins, and genomes, the methodology and the analytical tools involved in dealing with molecular data from an evolutionary perspective, and the logic of evolutionary hypothesis testing. Evolutionary phenomena at the molecular level are detailed in a way that can be understood without much prerequisite knowledge of molecular biology, evolution, or mathematics. Numerous examples that support and clarify the theoretical arguments and methodological discussions are included.


Relentless Evolution

Relentless Evolution

Author: John N. Thompson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 022601889X

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At a glance, most species seem adapted to the environment in which they live. Yet species relentlessly evolve, and populations within species evolve in different ways. Evolution, as it turns out, is much more dynamic than biologists realized just a few decades ago. In Relentless Evolution, John N. Thompson explores why adaptive evolution never ceases and why natural selection acts on species in so many different ways. Thompson presents a view of life in which ongoing evolution is essential and inevitable. Each chapter focuses on one of the major problems in adaptive evolution: How fast is evolution? How strong is natural selection? How do species co-opt the genomes of other species as they adapt? Why does adaptive evolution sometimes lead to more, rather than less, genetic variation within populations? How does the process of adaptation drive the evolution of new species? How does coevolution among species continually reshape the web of life? And, more generally, how are our views of adaptive evolution changing? Relentless Evolution draws on studies of all the major forms of life—from microbes that evolve in microcosms within a few weeks to plants and animals that sometimes evolve in detectable ways within a few decades. It shows evolution not as a slow and stately process, but rather as a continual and sometimes frenetic process that favors yet more evolutionary change.


Molecular Markers, Natural History and Evolution

Molecular Markers, Natural History and Evolution

Author: J. C. Avise

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 1461523818

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Molecular approaches have opened new windows on a host of ecological and evolutionary disciplines, ranging from population genetics and behavioral ecology to conservation biology and systematics. Molecular Markers, Natural History and Evolution summarizes the multi-faceted discoveries about organisms in nature that have stemmed from analyses of genetic markers provided by polymorphic proteins and DNAs. The first part of the book introduces rationales for the use of molecular markers, provides a history of molecular phylogenetics, and describes a wide variety of laboratory methods and interpretative tools in the field. The second and major portion of the book provides a cornucopia of biological applications for molecular markers, organized along a scale from micro-evolutionary topics (such as forensics, parentage, kinship, population structure, and intra-specific phylogeny) to macro-evolutionary themes (including species relationships and the deeper phylogenetic structure in the tree of life). Unlike most prior books in molecular evolution, the focus is on organismal natural history and evolution, with the macromolecules being the means rather than the ends of scientific inquiry. Written as an intellectual stimulus for the advanced undergraduate, graduate student, or the practicing biologist desiring a wellspring of research ideas at the interface of molecular and organismal biology, this book presents material in a manner that is both technically straightforward, yet rich with concepts and with empirical examples from the world of nature.


Genetics of Speciation

Genetics of Speciation

Author: David L. Jameson

Publisher:

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13:

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The nature of populations, races, subspecies, and species. Genetic basis of isolation. Origin of isolation - theoretical. Origin of isolation - experimental. The nature of the speciation process.


Natural Hybridization and Evolution

Natural Hybridization and Evolution

Author: Michael L. Arnold

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1997-01-30

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0195099753

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Michael L. Arnold offers an exploration of the evolutionary process of natural hybridisation, and presents data from various sources that support the paradigm of natural hybridisation as an important evolutionary process.