Evolution Is a Quantitative Science 英文参考文献.docVIP

BookReview/ScienceintheMedia EvolutionIsaQuantitativeScience JohnF.Y.Brookfield* InstituteofGenetics,SchoolofBiology,UniversityofNottingham,Nottingham,UnitedKingdom Evolutionary genetics is a mature field of endeavour, and some of biology’s greatest minds have contributed to the theory of population genetics. Initially, theyfacedaproblem,inthatfollowingthe rediscoveryofMendel’sresultsintheearly years of the 20th century, some saw an unbridgeable gulf between the sudden changesinappearanceseeninthemutant formsofpeasstudiedbyMendel,andthe gradual and subtle changes to evolving populationsenvisagedbyDarwin.Theso- ing in evolutionary genetics must be included in all bioinformatics and geno- mics courses. Educators will find that foundationinElementsofEvolutionaryGenet- ics,byBrianandDeborahCharlesworth. This thorough and accurate textbook representsaremarkableachievement.The rigour of the approach is impeccable throughout, and the text makes clear just how many areas of biology, such as sex, genome structure, migration and popula- tion variation, and adaptive evolution itself, can be understood only through theapplicationofformalmodelsinwhich evolutionaryprocessesareconsideredina precise way. Most telling, however, is the consistentlyquantitativeapproachtodata and their interpretation. While a full appreciationofthebookwillrequiresome mathematical understanding, the steps required are clearly dealt with in appen- called Neo-Darwinian synthesis linked theseideasbyconsideringthelikelyeffect of Darwinian natural selection on varia- tionsinMendeliangenes,variationswhich would not necessarily have major effects on organisms’ phenotypes. Unusually, for biology, this theory was developed, pri- marily by Fisher, Haldane and Wright, priortotheexistenceofdatasetstowhich itcouldrealisticallybeapplied.Asaresult, the second half of the 20th century saw evolutionary geneticists’ struggle to pro- duce data to test theory. They were especially interested in polymorphisms—