The Origins of Genome Architecture

ISBN-13: 9780878934843 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 512 str.

Michael Lynch; Bruce Walsh

Opis

With official genomic blueprints now available for hundreds of species, and thousands more expected in the near future, the field of biology has been forever transformed. Such readily accessible data have encouraged the proliferation of adaptive arguments for the evolution of gene and genomic features, often with little or no attention being given to simpler and more powerful alternative explanations. By integrating the central observations from molecular biology and population genetics relevant to comparative genomics, Lynch shows why the details matter.

Presented in a nontechnical fashion, at both the population-genetic and molecular-genetic levels, this book offers a unifying explanatory framework for how the peculiar architectural diversity of eukaryotic genomes and genes came to arise. Under Lynch's hypothesis, the genome-wide repatterning of eukaryotic gene structure, which resulted primarily from nonadaptive processes, provided an entirely novel resource from which natural selection could secondarily build new forms of organismal complexity.

Recenzje

Lynch presents a synthesis of molecular genetics and evolutionary biology with a goal of driving new interdisciplinary research and understanding. He succeeds admirably. This extremely interesting book presents genomic evolution in a comprehensive manner and with different perspectives. What makes this volume so useful is that each chapter presents not only what and how, but also why (and why it matters). This book will appeal to everyone interested in genetics, molecular biology, and evolution. It is highly recommended."

Spis treści

The Emergence of Eukaryotes
Genome Complexity
Why Population Size is Important
Three Keys to Chromosomal Integrity
Nucleotide Composition
Genomic Expansion by Gene Duplication
Genes in Pieces
Mobile Genetic ElementsTranscription and Regulatory-region Complexity
Expansion and Contraction of Organelle Genomes
Life on a Sex Chromosome

O autorze

Michael Lynch is Distinguished Professor of Biology at Indiana University. He received his B.S. in Biology from St. Bonaventure University, and his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lynch has served as President of both the Society for the Study of Evolution and the American Genetic Association, and is a past council member of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research is focused on mechanisms of evolution at the gene, genomic, cellular, and phenotypic levels, with special attention being given to the roles of mutation, random genetic drift, and recombination.