Cells In Evolutionary Biology

This book is the first in a projected series on Evolutionary Cell Biology, the intent of which is to demonstrate the essential role of cellular mechanisms in transforming the genotype into the phenotype by transforming gene activity into evolutionary change in morphology. This book —Cells in Evolutionary Biology — evaluates the evolution of cells themselves and the role cells have been viewed to play as agents of change at other levels of biological organization. Chapters explore Darwin’s use of cells in his theory of evolution and how Weismann’s theory of the separation of germ plasm from body cells brought cells to center stage in understanding how acquired changes to cells within generations are not passed on to future generations. The study of evolution through the analysis of cell lineages during embryonic development dominated evolutionary cell biology until usurped by the switch to genes as the agents of heredity in the first decades of the 20th century. Discovery that cells exchanged organelles via symbiosis led to a fundamental reevaluation of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and to a reorganizations of the Tree of Life. Identification of cellular signaling centers, of mechanisms responsible for cellular patterning, and of cell behavior and cellular condensations as mediating the plasticity that enables phenotypic change during evolution, provided powerful new synergies between cell biology and evolutionary theory and the basis for Evolutionary Cell Biology.

Among the most important innovations in the history of life is the transition from single-celled organisms to more complex, multicellular organisms. Multicellularity has evolved repeatedly across the tree of life, resulting in the evolution of new kinds of organisms that collectively constitute a significant portion of Earth’s biodiversity and have transformed the biosphere. This volume examines the origins and subsequent evolution of multicellularity, reviewing the types of multicellular groups that exist, their evolutionary relationships, the processes that led to their evolution, and the conceptual frameworks in which their evolution is understood. This important volume is intended to serve as a jumping-off point, stimulating further research by summarizing the topics that students and researchers of the evolution of multicellularity should be familiar with, and highlighting future research directions for the field.

There has been no mechanistic explanation for evolutionary change consistent with phylogeny in the 150 years since the publication of ‘Origins’. As a result, progress in the field of evolutionary biology has stagnated, relying on descriptive observations and genetic associations rather testable scientific measures. This book illuminates the need for a larger evolutionary-based platform for biology. Like physics and chemistry, biology needs a central theory in order to frame the questions that arise, the way hypotheses are tested, and how to interpret the data in the context of a continuum.The reduction of biology to its self-referential, self-organized properties provides the opportunity to recognize the continuum from the Singularity/Big Bang to Consciousness based on cell-cell communication for homeostasis.

Examines the development, structure, and function of the cell.

Volume 1 of the series Fundamentals of Medical Cell Biology is devoted to evolutionary biology. This is presented in two parts: in the first, the structure and dynamics of RNA, DNA, and protein are dealt with. The second part is concerned with the origins and cellular basis of life.

Gerhart and Kirschner aim to explain the origins of phenotypic variation and evolutionary adaptation from within eukaryotic cell biological and developmental processes. Their examples are drawn from paleontology, developmental and cell biology.

Many complex traits define the primate condition, including behaviors as fundamental as locomotion and traits as scrutinized as the dentition, and their study reveals dramatic evolutionary change across the primates. Genetic modifications are at the basis of these changes, but transformation of genetic information into phenotypes occurs at the level of the cell, which is the focus of this book. Contributors summarize novel methodologies to analyze the collective behavior of cells in forming tissues and organs influencing physiological functions and anatomical features that enable behaviors. Our goal is to review current knowledge and encourage others to adopt evolutionary cell biology to aid in deciphering the genotype-phenotype map that underlies the diversification of primates, human variation, and human evolution. The contributors to this book utilize advances in genetic analysis and visualization of cells and tissues and merge evolutionary developmental biology with evolutionary cell biology to address questions central to understanding human and primate evolution. Key Features Explores mechanisms underlying trait development, distribution, variation, and evolution, especially with respect to pigmentation, dental formulae, the skeleton, energetics, and temperature-related morphological variation Documents the advantages for anthropologists to work at the level of cells, focusing on how genes provide instructions for cells to make structure and how environment affects the behavior of cells Illustrates the role cell biology plays in pelage growth and pigmentation, facial morphology, melanin production in pigmentation, dental development and tooth loss, and energy expenditure Describes novel methodologies and techniques to analyze environment- and temperature-related influences on phenotypes Demonstrates how significant changes in life history occur at the level of the cell Related Titles Bianchi, L. Developmental Neurobiology (ISBN 978-0-8153-4482-7) King, G. R. Primate Behavior and Human Origins (ISBN 978-1-138-85317-1) Rhys Evans, P. H. The Waterside Ape: An Alternate Account of Human Evolution (ISBN 978-0-367-14548-4)