History of Genetics in Evolution
Joe Felsenstein
GENOME 453, Winter 2004
History of Genetics in Evolution – p.1/26 The Great Chain of Being (1600’s onward)
Deity Angels Man Mammals Birds Reptiles Amphibians Fish Insects 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 species 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 Snakes,
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 Philosophie Zoologique, 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 Charles Darwin (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) Karl Pearson 1857-1936)
History of Genetics in Evolution – p.20/26 Gregor Mendel (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 Hugo De Vries
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 Julian Huxley
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