Rapidly evolving genes and genetic systems

✍ Scribed by Kulathinal, Rob J.; Singh, Rama Shankar; Xu, Jianping

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2012
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 309
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Ever since the pioneering work of Darwin and Wallace, evolutionary biologists have tried to understand the evolutionary dynamics of genetic systems. A range of theories on the rates of evolution-from static to gradual to punctuated to quantum-have been developed, mostly by comparing morphological changes over geological timescales as described in the fossil record. However, new paleontological, experimental, molecular, and genomic investigations have injected a tremendous amount of new data and fresh perspectives, offering valuable insights on the rates of evolutionary change, particularly in those fast-evolving genetic systems.

Rapidly Evolving Genes and Genetic Systems captures these recent exciting developments by bringing together information from morphological, molecular, cellular, developmental, and genetic investigations of both natural and experimental populations across a diversity of life forms. It provides case studies that exemplify rapid evolution, and showcases the diversity of rapidly evolving genes and genetic systems, emphasizing the extremely important roles that they play in adaptation, speciation, and the generation and maintenance of a diversity of biological traits and properties.

✦ Table of Contents

Content: Chapter 1 Introduction --
Part I From Theory to Experiment --
Chapter 2 Theoretical perspectives on rapid evolutionary change --
Chapter 3 Recombination reshuffles the genotypic deck, thus accelerating the rate of evolution --
Chapter 4 Heterogeneity in neutral divergence across genomic regions induced by sex-specific hybrid incompatibility --
Chapter 5 Rapid evolution in experimental populations of major life forms --
Part II Rapidly Evolving Genetic Elements --
Chapter 6 Rapid evolution of low complexity sequences and single amino acid repeats across eukaryotes --
Chapter 7 Fast rates of evolution in bacteria due to horizontal gene transfer --
Chapter 8 Rapid evolution of animal mitochondrial DNA --
Chapter 9 Rapid evolution of centromeres and centromeric/kinetochore proteins --
Chapter 10 Rapid evolution via chimeric genes --
Chapter 11 Evolutionary interactions between sex chromosomes and autosomes --
Chapter 12 Evolutionary signatures in non-coding DNA --
Part III Sexand Reproduction-Related Genetic Systems --
Chapter 13 Evolution of sperm-egg interaction --
Chapter 14 Rates of sea urchin bindin evolution --
Chapter 15 Evolution of Drosophila seminal proteins and their networks --
Chapter 16 Evolutionary genomics of the sperm proteome --
Chapter 17 Fast evolution of reproductive genes: when is selection sexual? --
Chapter 18 Rapid morphological, behavioral, and ecological evolution in Drosophila: comparisons between the endemic Hawaiian Drosophila and the cactophilic repleta species group --
Chapter 19 Ancient yet fast: rapid evolution of mating genes and mating systems in fungi --
Part IV Pathogens and their Hosts --
Chapter 20 Rapid evolution of innate immune response genes --
Chapter 21 Rapid evolution of the plague pathogen --
Chapter 22 Evolution of human erythrocyte-specific genes involved in malaria susceptibility --
Part V From Gene Expression to Development to Speciation --
Chapter 23 The rapid evolution of gene expression --
Chapter 24 Rate variation in the evolution of development: a phylogenetic perspective --
Chapter 25 Natural hybridization as a catalyst of rapid evolutionary change --
Chapter 26 Rapid evolution of pollinator-mediated plant reproductive isolation --
Chapter 27 Sexual system genomics and speciation.

✦ Subjects

Evolutionary genetics;Evolutionary genetics;Case studies;Molecular evolution;Molecular evolution;Case studies