Overview

This volume in the Monographs in Evolutionary Biology series addresses issues that are part of an emerging area of research loosely called ""mo­ lecular evolution. "" Its practitioners include both molecular biologists cu­ rious about the evolutionary implications of their data and evolutionary biologists pushing their analyses to the molecular level. The union of these fields of molecular and organismal biology has been turbulent at times, and, as shall be seen, this dialectic has led to some very serious challenges to long-held notions about the role of natural selection in evolution and the economy of genome organization in eukaryotes. As an inevitable outgrowth of molecular biology, molecular evolution is necessarily a young discipline, but it can already point proudly to two major discoveries. The first, is the molecular clock, a concept that has emerged from the analysis of at least four data sets-amino acid sequences, immunologic data, DNA renaturation studies, and, recently, analyses of DNA sequences. The reality of a strong stochastic component in the evolution of nucleotide sequences can no longer be doubted, although the accuracy of the clock with regard to particular sequences and within particular groups of or­ ganisms should be independently measured each time it is used. Never­ theless, molecular clocks will assume increasingly important roles in phy­ logenetic reconstructions, especially since the fossil record is so fragmentary. The second major discovery of molecular evolution has been the incredible complexity of the eukaryotic genome.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ross J. MacIntyre
Publisher:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Imprint:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Edition:   Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1985
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.919kg
ISBN:  

9781468449907

ISBN 10:   1468449907
Pages:   632
Publication Date:   13 March 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

1 Evolution of DNA Sequences.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Methods for Estimating the Number of Nucleotide Substitutions between Sequences.- 3. Rates of Nucleotide Substitution in Various Regions of Genes.- 4. Molecular Clock.- 5. Patterns of Nucleotide Substitution in Pseudogenes and Functional Genes.- 6. Nonrandom Usage of Synonymous Codons.- 7. Concerted Evolution of Multigene Families.- 8. Mechanisms of DNA Evolution.- 9. Concluding Remarks.- References.- 2 The Mitochondrial Genome of Animals.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Structure, Content, and Function in Animal Mitochondrial DNA.- 3. Sequence Variation in Animal Mitochondrial DNA.- 4. Rates of Change in Animal Mitochondrial DNA.- 5. Speculations, Problems, and Prospects.- References.- 3 Evolution of Chloroplast and Mitochondrial DNA in Plants and Algae.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Chloroplast Genome Evolution.- 3. Chloroplast Gene Evolution.- 4. Mitochondrial DNA Evolution.- 5. Phylogenese Implications of Organelle DNA Variation.- 6. Summary Comparison of Chloroplast and Mitochondrial DNA Evolution.- References.- 4 Localized Highly Repetitive DNA Sequences in Vertebrate and Invertebrate Genomes.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Molecular and Biological Data Base: Vertebrates.- 3. The Molecular and Biological Data Base: Invertebrates.- 4. Data Summary.- 5. Epilogue.- 6. Conclusions.- References.- 5 The Evolution of Interspersed Repetitive DNA Sequences in Mammals and Other Vertebrates.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Background.- 3. RNA Pseudogenes.- 4. The Alu Family and Its Allies.- 5. Non-Alu-Family Interspersed Repeats.- 6. Biological Functions and Effects.- 7. Summary.- References.- 6 The Contributions of Retroviruses to the Study of Mammalian Evolution.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Isolation of Primate Retroviruses.- 3. Phylogeny of Primates as Indicated by DNA-DNA Hybridization.- 4. Evolution of Primate Retrovirus Genes.- 5. Endogenous Mammalian Retroviruses.- 6. Interspecies Transmission and Germ Line Integration of Mammalian Retroviruses.- 7. Interspecies Transmission of Infectious Retroviruses.- 8. Conclusion.- References.- 7 Evolution of Ribosomal DNA.- 1. Origin of Genes for the Translational Apparatus.- 2. Basic Organization of rDNA.- 3. Evolutionary Conservation in rRNA Structure.- 4. Processing of rRNA.- 5. Nontranscribed Spacers.- 6. Evolutionary Forces Acting on rDNA.- References.- 8 On the Evolution of Genome Organization in Mammals.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Procedures for Studying Genome Evolution.- 3. The Human Gene Map: An Index Species.- 4. Comparative Genetics and Cytogenetics of Primates.- 5. Comparative Genetics and Cytogenetics of Rodents.- 6. Comparative Genetics and Cytogenetics of Carnivores.- 7. Other Mammalian Families.- 8. Endogenous Retroviruses.- 9. Comparative Genetics of Mammalian Oncogenes.- 10. Conclusions.- References.

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