Title:	Studies in Population Genetics
Authors:	M. Carmen Fusté
Keywords:	Genetics
Issue Date:	2012
Publisher:	InTech
Description:	Population geneticists study the genetic composition and variability of natural populations as well as the theories that explain this variability in terms of natural selection, mutation, recombination, genetic drift and gene flow. Population genetics was first developed among eukaryotes in an attempt to reconcile Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and Mendelian genetics. When Darwin postulated that natural selection is the main force of evolutionary change, a great controversy was created. As Darwin did not fully understand the inheritance mechanism, he was unable to answer one of the main criticisms of his thesis. If selection is gradually to modify a population, the individuals that constitute this population have to vary, because if all the members are identical, no selection can occur. This controversy would eventually be solved thanks to Mendel’s inheritance theory, even though the early Mendelians did not accept an important role for natural selection in evolution. The foundations of population genetics were established in the 1920s and 1930s when R.A. Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane and S. Wright elaborated mathematical models to explain how Darwin’s theory of natural selection (and other evolutionary forces) could modify the genetic composition of a population over time. Since then, research in this field has been mainly focused on eukaryote species and only to a small extent on the prokaryotes, to which population genetics was first applied in the 1970s. The classical analysis of multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) has been substituted by new gene sequencing technology, which, being highly reproducible and exportable, has allowed the comparison of data among different laboratories. The aim of this book has been to reflect the diversity of applications of population genetics. The chapters take a variety of approaches, including general and theoretical, while others report studies on animals, plants and bacteria. Here follows a summary of the different contributions,
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/56659
ISBN:	978-953-51-0588-6
Appears in Collections:	Population Studies

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