The Neutral Theory of Molecular EvolutionMotoo Kimura, as founder of the neutral theory, is uniquely placed to write this book. He first proposed the theory in 1968 to explain the unexpectedly high rate of evolutionary change and very large amount of intraspecific variability at the molecular level that had been uncovered by new techniques in molecular biology. The theory - which asserts that the great majority of evolutionary changes at the molecular level are caused not by Darwinian selection but by random drift of selectively neutral mutants - has caused controversy ever since. This book is the first comprehensive treatment of this subject and the author synthesises a wealth of material - ranging from a historical perspective, through recent molecular discoveries, to sophisticated mathematical arguments - all presented in a most lucid manner. |
Contents
From Lamarck to population genetics | 1 |
Overdevelopment of the synthetic theory and the proposal of | 15 |
Molecular evolutionary rates contrasted with phenotypic evolu | 55 |
43 | 67 |
Some features of molecular evolution | 98 |
Definition types and action of natural selection | 117 |
Molecular structure selective constraint and the rate of evolution | 149 |
Population genetics at the molecular level | 194 |
Maintenance of genetic variability at the molecular level | 253 |
Summary and conclusion | 305 |
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Common terms and phrases
A₂ Acad allelic frequencies amino acid amino acid substitutions assume average heterozygosity base substitutions Biol chromosome codon course of evolution deleterious mutants denote distribution divergence effective number effective population effective population size electrophoretic enzyme equation equilibrium estimate evolutionary change evolutionary rate example expected finite population fitness fixation formula gene duplication gene frequency genetic variability genome genotypes globin Haldane hemoglobin heterozygosity homologous hypothesis individuals Kimura and Ohta large number lineages loci locus mammals Maruyama molecular evolution molecular level molecule mouse mutant allele mutant substitutions mutation rate Natl natural populations natural selection neutral alleles neutral mutations neutral theory nucleotide nucleotide sites nucleotide substitutions number of alleles observed obtained occur overdominance phenotypic polymorphism population genetics probability Proc protein polymorphism pseudogenes random drift rate of evolution sample selection coefficient selective advantage selectively neutral slightly deleterious species stabilizing selection structure studies synonymous codons synonymous substitutions tRNA variance vertebrate
Popular passages
Page 330 - Cordell, B., Bell, G. Tischer, E., DeNoto, FM, Ullrich, A., Pictet, R., Rutter, WJ & Goodman, HM (1979).