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Selfish Genetic Elements
Selfish genetic elements (historically also referred to as selfish genes, ultra-selfish genes, selfish DNA, parasitic DNA and genomic outlaws) are genetic segments that can enhance their own transmission at the expense of other genes in the genome, even if this has no positive or a net negative effect on organismal fitness. Genomes have traditionally been viewed as cohesive units, with genes acting together to improve the fitness of the organism. Early observations of selfish genetic elements were made almost a century ago, but the topic did not get widespread attention until several decades later. Inspired by the gene-centred views of evolution popularized by George Williams and Richard Dawkins, two papers were published back-to-back in ''Nature'' in 1980 – by Leslie Orgel and Francis Crick and by Ford Doolittle and Carmen Sapienza – introducing the concept of selfish genetic elements (at the time called "selfish DNA") to the wider scientific community. Both papers emphasiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene-centred Views Of Evolution
The gene-centered view of evolution, gene's eye view, gene selection theory, or selfish gene theory holds that adaptive evolution occurs through the differential survival of competing genes, increasing the allele frequency of those alleles whose phenotypic trait effects successfully promote their own propagation. The proponents of this viewpoint argue that, since heritable information is passed from generation to generation almost exclusively by DNA, natural selection and evolution are best considered from the perspective of genes. Proponents of the gene-centered viewpoint argue that it permits understanding of diverse phenomena such as altruism and intragenomic conflict that are otherwise difficult to explain from an organism-centered viewpoint. Some proponents claim that the gene-centered view is the aspect of evolutionary theory that is the most empirically validated, has the greatest predictive power, and has the broadest applicability. The gene-centered view of evolutio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cytoplasmic Male Sterility
Cytoplasmic male sterility is total or partial male sterility in hermaphrodite organisms, as the result of specific nuclear and mitochondrial interactions. Male sterility is the failure to produce functional anthers, pollen, or male gametes. Such male sterility in hermaphrodite populations leads to gynodioecious populations (populations with coexisting fully functioning hermaphrodites and male-sterile hermaphrodites). Cytoplasmic male sterility, as the name indicates, is under extranuclear genetic control (under control of the mitochondrial or plastid genomes). It shows non-Mendelian inheritance, with male sterility inherited maternally. In general, there are two types of cytoplasm: N (normal) and aberrant S (sterile) cytoplasms. These types exhibit reciprocal differences. History Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter was the first to document male sterility in plants. In the 18th century, he reported on anther abortion within species and specific hybrids. Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Trivers
Robert Ludlow "Bob" Trivers (; born February 19, 1943) is an American evolutionary biologist and sociobiologist. Trivers proposed the theories of reciprocal altruism (1971), parental investment (1972), facultative sex ratio determination (1973), and parent–offspring conflict (1974). He has also contributed by explaining self-deception as an adaptive evolutionary strategy (first described in 1976) and discussing intragenomic conflict. Education Trivers studied evolutionary theory with Ernst Mayr and William Drury at Harvard from 1968 to 1972, when he earned his PhD in biology. At Harvard he published a series of some of the most influential and highly cited papers in evolutionary biology. His first major paper as a graduate student was "The evolution of reciprocal altruism", published in 1971. In this paper Trivers offers a solution to the longstanding problem of cooperation among unrelated individuals and by doing so overcame a crucial problem for how to police the sys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austin Burt
Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufacturer Arts and entertainment * ''Austin'' (album), by Post Malone, 2023 * "Austin" (Blake Shelton song), 2001 * "Austin" (Dasha song), 2023 * ''Austin'' (TV series), a 2024 Australian-British comedy series Businesses and organisations Businesses * American Austin Car Company, short-lived American automobile maker * Austin Automobile Company, short-lived American automobile company * Austin Motor Company, British car manufacturer ** ''Austin'' magazine, produced for the Austin Motor Company by in-house Nuffield Press * Austin Airways, a former Canadian passenger airline and freight carrier * Austin cookies and crackers, a Keebler Company brand Education * Austin College, in Sherman, Texas, U.S. * Austin High School (other), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genomic Imprinting
Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that causes genes to be expressed or not, depending on whether they are inherited from the female or male parent. Genes can also be partially imprinted. Partial imprinting occurs when alleles from both parents are differently expressed rather than complete expression and complete suppression of one parent's allele. Forms of genomic imprinting have been demonstrated in fungi, plants and animals. In 2014, there were about 150 imprinted genes known in mice and about half that in humans. As of 2019, 260 imprinted genes have been reported in mice and 228 in humans. Genomic imprinting is an inheritance process independent of the classical Mendelian inheritance. It is an epigenetic process that involves DNA methylation and histone methylation without altering the genetic sequence. These epigenetic marks are established ("imprinted") in the germline (sperm or egg cells) of the parents and are maintained through mitotic cell divisions in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John H
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died ), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (died ), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * Pope Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Tooby
John Tooby (July 26, 1952 – November 10, 2023) was an American anthropologist who, together with his psychologist wife Leda Cosmides, pioneered the field of evolutionary psychology. Biography Tooby received his PhD in Biological Anthropology from Harvard University in 1989 and was Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). In 1992, together with Cosmides and Jerome Barkow, Tooby edited '' The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture''. Tooby and Cosmides also co-founded and co-directed the UCSB Center for Evolutionary Psychology. Cosmides and Tooby jointly received the 2020 Jean Nicod Prize. Tooby died on November 10, 2023, at the age of 71. Selected publications Books * Barkow, J., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J., (Eds.) (1992). ''The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture''. New York: Oxford University Press. * Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (in press). ''Evolutionary psychology: Foundat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leda Cosmides
Leda Cosmides (born May 1957) is an American psychologist, who, together with anthropologist husband John Tooby, pioneered the field of evolutionary psychology. Biography Cosmides was born into a Greek family. Her parents, George Cosmides and Nasia Cosmides (née Murlas), founded the St George Greek Orthodox Church in Bethesda, Maryland. Cosmides originally studied biology at Radcliffe College/Harvard University, receiving her BA in 1979. While an undergraduate, she was influenced by the renowned evolutionary biologist Robert L. Trivers, who was her advisor. In 1985, Cosmides received a PhD in cognitive psychology from Harvard. After completing postdoctoral work under Roger Shepard at Stanford University, she joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1991, becoming a full professor in 2000. In 1992, together with Tooby and Jerome Barkow, Cosmides edited '' The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture''. She and Tooby als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Selfish Gene
''The Selfish Gene'' is a 1976 book on evolution by ethologist Richard Dawkins that promotes the gene-centred view of evolution, as opposed to views focused on the organism and the group. The book builds upon the thesis of George C. Williams's '' Adaptation and Natural Selection'' (1966); it also popularized ideas developed during the 1960s by W. D. Hamilton and others. From the gene-centred view, it follows that the more two individuals are genetically related, the more sense (at the level of the genes) it makes for them to behave cooperatively with each other. A lineage is expected to evolve to maximise its inclusive fitness—the number of copies of its genes passed on globally (rather than by a particular individual). As a result, populations will tend towards an evolutionarily stable strategy. The book also introduces the term ''meme'' for a unit of human cultural evolution analogous to the gene, suggesting that such "selfish" replication may also model human cult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptation And Natural Selection
''Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought'' is a 1966 book by the American evolutionary biologist George C. Williams. Williams, in what is now considered a classic by evolutionary biologists, outlines a gene-centered view of evolution, disputes notions of evolutionary progress, and criticizes contemporary models of group selection, including the theories of Alfred Emerson, A. H. Sturtevant, and to a smaller extent, the work of V. C. Wynne-Edwards. The book takes its title from a lecture by George Gaylord Simpson in January 1947 at Princeton University. Aspects of the book were popularised by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book ''The Selfish Gene''. The aim of the book is to "clarify certain issues in the study of adaptation and the underlying evolutionary processes."''Adaptation and Natural Selection'', preface Though more technical than a popular science book, its target audience is not specialists but biologists in general and the more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RA Fisher
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science" and "the single most important figure in 20th century statistics". In genetics, Fisher was the one to most comprehensively combine the ideas of Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin, as his work used mathematics to combine Mendelian genetics and natural selection; this contributed to the revival of Darwinism in the early 20th-century revision of the theory of evolution known as the modern synthesis. For his contributions to biology, Richard Dawkins declared Fisher to be the greatest of Darwin's successors. He is also considered one of the founding fathers of Neo-Darwinism. According to statistician Jeffrey T. Leek, Fisher is the most influential scientist of all time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
