‘Homology’ as a concept became increasingly elusive during the
course of the 20th century. The central debates and controversies
concern both fundamental definitions and the nature of the criteria
by which homology is judged. Attempts to move away from comparative
morphology to ideas based on developmental pathways have tended to
founder on the fact that developmental pathways evolve and that
similar cells or tissues or structures in animals will often have
different developmental origins. The use of information about
conserved molecules in seemingly conserved developmental processes
has also proven controversial.
In molecular biology, the use of the term ‘homology’ has given
rise to more debate, although here the issue seems to involve
primarily the criteria for assessing whether parts of genes are the
same because of shared descent or for other reasons. The
contributions to the book explore these topics systematically.
There are chapters on the historical development of the concept of
homology and its use in population studies. Other chapters deal
with issues of homology in morphological and developmental studies,
in behavioural studies, and especially in studies at the level of
molecular genetics.
Tabla de materias
Homology-History of a Concept (A. Panchen).
Homoplasy, Homology and the Problem of ‘Sameness’ in Biology (D.
Wake).
Homology Among Divergent Paleozoic Tetrapod Clades (R.
Carroll).
Generation, Integration, Autonomy: Three Steps in the Evolution of
Homology (G. Müller & S. Newman).
On the Homology of Structures and Hox Genes: The Vertebral Column
(F. Galis).
Developmental Basis of Limb Homology in Urodeles: Heterochronic
Evidence from the Primitive Hynobiid Family (J. Hinchliffe & E.
Vorobyeva).
Larval Homologies and Radical Evolutionary Changes in Early
Development (R. Raff).
A Research Programme for Testing the Biological Homology Concept
(G. Wagner).
Homology and Homoplasy: The Retention of Genetic Programmes (A.
Meyer).
Homology in the Nervous System: Of Characters, Embryology and
Levels of Analysis (G. Striedter).
Natural History and Behavioural Homology (H. Greene).
Evolutionary Dissociations Between Homologous Genes and Homologous
Structures (G. Wray).
Establishing Homology Criteria for Regulatory Gene Networks:
Prospects and Challenges (E. Abouheif).
The Effect of Gene Duplication on Homology (P. Holland).
Summary (B. Hall).
Indexes.
Sobre el autor
The Novartis Foundation is an international scientific and educational charity which promotes the study and general knowledge of science and in particular encourages international co-operation in scientific research.
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