History of Genetics in

Joe Felsenstein

GENOME 453, Winter 2004

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.1/26 The Great Chain of (1600’s onward)

Deity Man Mammals Reptiles Amphibians Fish Worms Protists Issues: placement of birds, insects not obvious. A scale of complexity? Or what?

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.2/26 Karl Linné (Carolus Linnaeus) (1707-1778)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.3/26 Monophyly

Monophyletic: having a common ancestor which is not the ancestor of any of the other being discussed.

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.4/26

A phylogeny of the living Craniata

Amphioxus

Hagfish

Lamprey

Sharks, Rays Sharks,

Bony fishes Bony

Coelacanth

Lungfish

Salamanders

Frogs

Turtles

Tuatara

Snakes, Lizards ,

Crocodilians

Birds Mammals

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.5/26

Vertebrates as a monophyletic group

Lamprey

Sharks, Rays Sharks,

Bony fishes Bony

Coelacanth

Lungfish

Salamanders

Frogs

Turtles

Tuatara

Snakes, Lizards Snakes,

Crocodilians

Birds Amphioxus

Mammals Hagfish

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.6/26

Reptiles and fishes are paraphyletic groups

Turtles Amphioxus

Bony fishes Bony Hagfish

Birds Snakes, Lizards Snakes, Salamanders Coelacanth Lamprey

Mammals Crocodilians Frogs Lungfish Rays Sharks, Tuatara

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.7/26 Buffon

George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.8/26 Lamarck

Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.9/26 Lamarck’s mechanism for evolution In , 1809.

Organisms’ characters are altered by the effects of use and disuse. These changes are passed on to descendants by inheritance of acquired characters.

Note that Lamarck did not originate “Lamarckian inheritance": it was something everyone believed in at that time.

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.10/26 Statue of Lamarck in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.11/26 Goeffroy versus Cuvier

Etienne Georges Geoffroy St. Lèopole Hilaire Chrètien (1772-1844) Frèdèric Dagobert, Baron Cuvier (1769-1832)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.12/26 Memorials in Paris

Fountain on corner of Rue Lamarck / Rue Darwin Rue Linné and Rue Cuvier

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.13/26 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.14/26 The Naturphilosophen

The Naturphilosophen and Evolutionary views

Ape Ape

Monkey Monkey Mouse Mouse

Reptile Reptile Amphibian Amphibian Fish Fish common developmental pathway evolutionary tree

Note − The picture here is very much a Great Chain of Being

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.15/26 (1809-1882)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.16/26 Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) in 1869

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.17/26 Fleeming Jenkin

Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885) Fleeming Jenkin Building University of Edinburgh

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.18/26 Blending inheritance and selection

Result of natural selection in the

presence of blending inheritance

10

8

4

2

0 0 10 20 30 40

Value of characterHistory of Genetics in Evolution – p.19/26 The Biometricians

Francis Galton (1822-1911) 1857-1936)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.20/26 (1822-1884)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.21/26 Mendel in his school

The faculty at Mendel’s monastery school (Mendel is top center-right with flower)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.22/26 Rediscoverers of Mendel

Carl Correns Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.23/26 Founders of theoretical population genetics

R. A. Fisher J. B. S. Haldane Sewall Wright

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.24/26 Popularizers of the Neodarwinian Synthesis

Ernst Mayr George Gaylord Simpson Sir

G. Ledyard Stebbins Theodosius Dobzhansky

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.25/26 How it was done This projection produced using the prosper style in LaTeX, using Latex to make a .dvi file, using dvips to turn this into a Postscript file, using ps2pdf to mill a PDF file, and displaying the slides in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Result: nice slides using freeware.

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.26/26