Genomes, Evolution, and Culture : Past, Present, and Future of Humankind.

Genomes, Evolution,and CulturePast, Present, and Futureof Humankind -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1: The history of human evolutionary genetics -- World views -- Science and philosophy -- The biology of mankind: anatomy and physiology in a historical context (up to the 16th century) -- Beginnings of the present scientific model -- Biological evolution and genetic foundations: the brilliant quartet -- Nineteenth century: cytology, embryology, and reproduction -- Twentieth century, the century of genetics -- The synthetic theory of evolution -- Bacterial and molecular genetics -- Parallel developments: paleoanthropology -- Technical and methodological developments -- Conclusions -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 2: The human genome: structure, function, and variation -- Science, politics, and ethics -- Structural aspects -- Normal and abnormal phenotype distribution -- Function -- Sex chromosomes -- Paleogenomics -- Variability: mtDNA -- Nuclear variability -- Exomes and proteomes -- Selection or drift? History -- Selection or drift? Methods -- Selection or drift? Analyses -- Nervous system and culture -- Conclusions -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 3: Population structure -- DNA-based marker systems -- SNPs, STRs, and Indels as DNA markers -- SNPs -- STRs -- Indels -- Population genetic tools for analyzing population structure -- Forces affecting population dynamics, structure, and evolution -- Selection -- Genetic drift -- Migration and founder effect -- Isolation and inbreeding -- Nonrandom mating -- Bottlenecks -- Admixture -- Applications of population genetics -- Introduction -- Medicine -- Pharmacogenetics -- DNA fingerprinting -- From populations to races and species -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 4: Genetic variability -- On the nature of variability.

Mechanisms responsible for generating genetic variability -- Randomness of mutations -- Inheritance and environment -- Selection works on the phenotype -- The impact of selection -- Cultural expressions as markers of ancestry -- Congruency among marker systems -- Does junk DNA exist? -- How genetic diversity is studied? -- Epigenetic diversity -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 5: Gene and genomic dynamics -- Molecular evidence for punctuated equilibrium and gradualism -- Next-generation sequencing -- Genetic variation -- Variation, population structure, and effective population size -- Recombination and its effect on variation -- Linkage equilibrium and disequilibrium -- Forces leading to linkage disequilibrium -- Linkage disequilibrium and SNP haplotypes -- Linkage disequilibrium in humans -- Genome structural variations -- CNV classifications and formation mechanisms -- Methods used to detect CNVs -- CNVs associated with human phenotypes -- CNVs and evolution -- CNV in primates -- Chromosome rearrangements and selfish genetic elements -- Transposable elements -- Population dynamics of transposable elements -- Transposons in human evolution -- Selfish genetic elements in evolution -- Genome-wide association studies -- Concerns over the effective use of GWAS -- Conclusions -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 6: Human origins and early diasporas -- The on switch to humanity -- Pennants of recent human evolution -- The East African Ridge -- Bipedalism -- The human brain -- A genetic spurt -- Early hominins -- Emerging themes and variations in hominin evolution -- Australopithecines -- Homo naledi -- Homo erectus -- Homo neanderthalensis -- Denisovans -- The first hominin migrants -- Homo erectus -- Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis -- The emergence of modern humans -- The Saharan pump.

Early migrations -- Neanderthals prevailed -- Possible coexistence of modern humans and Neanderthals in the Levant -- Behavioral differences between Neanderthals and modern humans -- Habitation -- Hunting strategies -- Burial practices -- Neanderthals prevailed in the Levant -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 7: Culture -- Concept -- Origin and development -- Factors that could condition cultural evolution -- Biology-culture interaction -- Language -- Domestication -- Art -- Free will, morality, and religion -- Conclusions -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 8: Health and disease -- Hopes and reality -- Concept of health and methods of study -- Darwinian medicine -- Parent-offspring conflict -- Pathogen history -- Evolution of infectious diseases -- DNA damage, mutagenesis, and teratogenesis -- What is better, more or less gene product? -- Genetic manipulation of animals to study health and disease -- Reproductive fitness and health -- Consanguinity -- Violence -- Cancer -- Degenerative diseases -- Ecogenetics, pharmacogenetics, and pharmacogenomics -- Detection of genetic diseases -- Genetic counseling -- Treatment -- Conclusions -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 9: Recent human evolution: an integrative approach -- Recent human evolution -- Out of Africa -- The Levant versus the Horn of Africa -- Via the Horn of Africa -- Across the Nile corridor -- Genetic data -- More recent migrations across the north and south corridors -- Back to Africa -- Beyond Arabia -- The colonization of Australia -- Modern humans in Europe and America -- The Asian agricultural revolution and the Austronesian expansion -- Two major human dispersals populated the Pacific Ocean -- An agriculture-driven migration -- Linguistic evidence -- Cultural parallelisms -- Genetic data -- The motivation.

Evidence from plants and animals -- Biological markers of human dispersal -- Dogs -- Pigs -- Chickens -- Rats -- Contacts between South America and Polynesia -- Polynesian chickens in Chile and South American sweet potatoes in Polynesia -- Native American DNA in Easter Island -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 10: Bioethics: consequences and implications of genetic technology on human evolution -- Social and biological evolution -- Overview of ethics and philosophical influences on Western ethics -- Socrates -- Aristotle -- John Locke -- Immanuel Kant -- Jeremy Bentham -- John Stuart Mill -- John Rawls -- Robert Nozick -- Michael Sandel -- Evolution of ethics and morality -- The history and beginning of modern-day bioethics -- Reproductive technologies and the new eugenics: unnatural selection? -- Enhancement through IVF, PGD, and CRISPR -- Ethical issues associated with medical technology -- Gene therapy -- Stem cell therapy -- Biosimilars -- Genetic privacy -- Genetic testing -- DNA profiling -- Conclusions -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Chapter 11: Future of human evolution -- Gene and culture coevolution -- Life expectancy and population growth: past, present, and future -- Mutation rates and future evolution -- The evolution of new genes -- Climate change -- Diet -- Sex selection -- Artificial selection -- Transhumanism and artificial intelligence -- Conclusions -- Review questions and exercises -- References -- Appendix -- General information and bibliography -- What is bioinformatics? -- Example 1. Differences in aligning amino acid sequences. -- Using a bioinformatics database -- Computer instructions -- Exercise 1 -- Exercise 2. Identification of amino acid sequences. -- Exercise 3. Alignment of two sequences. -- Aligning multiple sequences.

Exercise 4. Aligning multiple sequences and creating phylogenetic tree. -- Creating a phylogenetic tree -- Exercise 4. Aligning multiple sequences and creating phylogenetic tree (continued). -- Using protein structure repository -- Exercise 5. Working with protein 3D structures. -- Visualizing protein structure -- Exercise 5. Working with protein 3D structures (continued). -- Exercise 6. BLAST search. -- Exercise 7. RNA BLAST search. -- Using RNA secondary structures -- Exercise 8. Predicting RNA secondary structure. -- Exercise 9. Creating a contig and finding the sequence identity -- List of bioinformatics databases -- Finding the right data -- Analyzing your DNA/RNA sequence -- Analyzing your protein sequences -- Questions -- Reference -- Index -- End User License Agreement.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.