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Author: Warwick Collins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
"Charles Darwin wrote in The Origin of Species that '... unless profitable variations do occur, natural selection can do nothing.' As Darwin recognised, natural selection, far from increasing variation within species, reduces variation constantly in favour of an optimum type. What then is the true source of variation in evolutionary systems? It is a question which has obsessed Warwick Collins — a novelist who had studied biology at university — for much of his adult life. He proposed in March 2000 that the required degree of variation could be achieved if large numbers of inert or “silent” genes existed within the genome. Such genes — because they do not code for physical characteristics — could freely mutate over time without deleteriously affecting the host organism. At a later stage they could be 'switched on', by largely random processes, and generate exotic new variants. Remarkably, his description of 'silent' genes was found to correspond precisely with the so-called 'junk' genes, which comprise approximately 98.5% of the genome, and whose function until then had proved mysterious. In addition, Collins’ theory predicted a number of features of the silent or junk genes which have since been increasingly verified by recent research — for example, that they could become 'active' and begin to code, and that they influenced other genes. It is now widely accepted that, just as Collins predicted, the vast majority of significant mutation in the genome arises from the silent genes."--
Author: Warwick Collins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
"Charles Darwin wrote in The Origin of Species that '... unless profitable variations do occur, natural selection can do nothing.' As Darwin recognised, natural selection, far from increasing variation within species, reduces variation constantly in favour of an optimum type. What then is the true source of variation in evolutionary systems? It is a question which has obsessed Warwick Collins — a novelist who had studied biology at university — for much of his adult life. He proposed in March 2000 that the required degree of variation could be achieved if large numbers of inert or “silent” genes existed within the genome. Such genes — because they do not code for physical characteristics — could freely mutate over time without deleteriously affecting the host organism. At a later stage they could be 'switched on', by largely random processes, and generate exotic new variants. Remarkably, his description of 'silent' genes was found to correspond precisely with the so-called 'junk' genes, which comprise approximately 98.5% of the genome, and whose function until then had proved mysterious. In addition, Collins’ theory predicted a number of features of the silent or junk genes which have since been increasingly verified by recent research — for example, that they could become 'active' and begin to code, and that they influenced other genes. It is now widely accepted that, just as Collins predicted, the vast majority of significant mutation in the genome arises from the silent genes."--
Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192860927
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
Science need not be dull and bogged down by jargon, as Richard Dawkins proves in this entertaining look at evolution. The themes he takes up are the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinshiptheory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences. 'Should be read, can be read by almost anyone. It describes with great skill a new face of the theory of evolution.' W.D. Hamilton, Science
Author: Denis Noble
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107176247
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 315
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Book Description
This book formulates a relativistic theory of biology, challenging the common gene-centred view of organisms.
Author: Pierre-Henri Gouyon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0306475707
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291
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Book Description
`Why life?' Questions of this type were for a long time the prerogative of philosophers who left the `how' question to scientists. Nowadays, Darwin's successors no longer have any qualms about addressing the `why' as well as the `how'. Over a century ago, Darwin modestly admitted having 'thrown some light on the origin of species - this mystery of mysteries'. Two major advances in the following decades helped biologists answer many of the questions he left unsolved. The first was the discovery of the laws of heredity, the second that of DNA. Both provided Darwinian theory with the foundations that were lacking and led to the all-embracing neo-Darwinian synthesis. Since then, Theodosius Dobzhansky's aphorism `nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution' has proven true more than once. This does not suit everyone, as evolutionist ideas have not lost their power to cause a scandal. Darwin toppled man from his pedestal. Evolutionary genetics - the subject of this book - sends the individual crashing. Considered until recently to be the target of selection and the focus of evolution, the individual has been usurped by the gene. The individual is nothing but the gene's avatar.
Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199291152
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 386
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Book Description
The million copy international bestseller, critically acclaimed and translated into over 25 languages.This 30th anniversary edition includes a new introduction from the author as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews. As relevant and influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought.Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research.
Author: Supratim Choudhuri
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0124105106
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
Bioinformatics for Beginners: Genes, Genomes, Molecular Evolution, Databases and Analytical Tools provides a coherent and friendly treatment of bioinformatics for any student or scientist within biology who has not routinely performed bioinformatic analysis. The book discusses the relevant principles needed to understand the theoretical underpinnings of bioinformatic analysis and demonstrates, with examples, targeted analysis using freely available web-based software and publicly available databases. Eschewing non-essential information, the work focuses on principles and hands-on analysis, also pointing to further study options. Avoids non-essential coverage, yet fully describes the field for beginners Explains the molecular basis of evolution to place bioinformatic analysis in biological context Provides useful links to the vast resource of publicly available bioinformatic databases and analysis tools Contains over 100 figures that aid in concept discovery and illustration
Author: Ronny C. Woodruff
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401152101
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 561
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Book Description
Although debated since the time of Darwin, the evolutionary role of mutation is still controversial. In over 40 chapters from leading authorities in mutation and evolutionary biology, this book takes a new look at both the theoretical and experimental measurement and significance of new mutation. Deleterious, nearly neutral, beneficial, and polygenic mutations are considered in their effects on fitness, life history traits, and the composition of the gene pool. Mutation is a phenomenon that draws attention from many different disciplines. Thus, the extensive reviews of the literature will be valuable both to established researchers and to those just beginning to study this field. Through up-to-date reviews, the authors provide an insightful overview of each topic and then share their newest ideas and explore controversial aspects of mutation and the evolutionary process. From topics like gonadal mosaicism and mutation clusters to adaptive mutagenesis, mutation in cell organelles, and the level and distribution of DNA molecular changes, the foundation is set for continuing the debate about the role of mutation, fitness, and adaptability. It is a debate that will have profound consequences for our understanding of evolution.
Author: Masatoshi Nei
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231063210
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 526
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Book Description
-- "The Scientist"
Author: Denis Noble
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191578800
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169
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Book Description
What is Life? Decades of research have resulted in the full mapping of the human genome - three billion pairs of code whose functions are only now being understood. The gene's eye view of life, advocated by evolutionary biology, sees living bodies as mere vehicles for the replication of the genetic codes. But for a physiologist, working with the living organism, the view is a very different one. Denis Noble is a world renowned physiologist, and sets out an alternative view to the question - one that becomes deeply significant in terms of the living, breathing organism. The genome is not life itself. Noble argues that far from genes building organisms, they should be seen as prisoners of the organism. The view of life presented in this little, modern, post-genome project reflection on the nature of life, is that of the systems biologist: to understand what life is, we must view it at a variety of different levels, all interacting with each other in a complex web. It is that emergent web, full of feedback between levels, from the gene to the wider environment, that is life. It is a kind of music. Including stories from Noble's own research experience, his work on the heartbeat, musical metaphors, and elements of linguistics and Chinese culture, this very personal and at times deeply lyrical book sets out the systems biology view of life.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781558504592
Category : Job hunting
Languages : en
Pages : 356
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Book Description
