History of Genetics in Evolution

Joe Felsenstein

GENOME 453, Autumn 2007

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.1/39

The Great Chain of Being (1600’s onward)

DeityAngelsManMammalsBirdsReptilesAmphibiansFishInsectsWormsProtists

Issues: placement of birds, insects not obvious. A scale of complexity? Or

what?

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.2/39

Karl Linné (Carolus Linnaeus) (1707-1778)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.3/39

Monophyly

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

(This definition works for cases where there are fossil forms being

included, and those where they are not, and works whether we arediscussing only a fixed set of species or all species descended from someancestor.)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.4/39

A phylogeny of the living Craniata

Mam

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prey

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History of Genetics in Evolution – p.5/39

Vertebrates are a monophyletic group

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The vertebratesM

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History of Genetics in Evolution – p.6/39

Reptiles and fishes are paraphyletic groups

Reptiles

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Osteichtyes

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.7/39

An American in Paris (2005)

Wandering east of the Panthéon on the Left Bank of Paris, you begin tonotice unusual street names:

... which is only hints at a little-known story.

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.8/39

Buffon

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

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.9/39

Statue of Buffon at the Jardin des Plantes

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.10/39

Buffon, honored

Rue Buffon, next to the Jardin des Plantes(with plastic mastodon, Big Mac, traffic ticket)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.11/39

Lamarck

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

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.12/39

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 wassomething everyone believed in at that time.

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.13/39

Old displays in the Museum of Natural History, Paris

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.14/39

Statue of Lamarck in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.15/39

Lamarck’s works listed

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.16/39

“My father, you will be vindicated”

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.17/39

Buffon’s (and Lamarck’s) house next to the Museum

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.18/39

Plaque on house commemorating Buffon

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.19/39

Plaque on house commemorating Lamarck

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.20/39

Geoffroy versus Cuvier

Etienne Geoffroy St.

Hilaire(1772-1844)

Georges Lèopole

ChrètienFrèdèric Dagobert,Baron Cuvier(1769-1832)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.21/39

Memorials in Paris

Fountain on corner of Rue Cuvier,Rue Linné and Rue Cuvier along side of fountain(“A GEORGES CUVIER”) and side of Jardin des Plantes

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.22/39

Allee Cuvier, within the Jardin

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.23/39

Rue Geoffroy St. Hilaire

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.24/39

Paris: Rue Lamarck and Rue Darwin

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.25/39

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.26/39

The Naturphilosophen

Monkey

Mouse

Fish

Amphibian

Ape Ape

Monkey

Mouse

Reptile Reptile

Amphibian

Fish

common developmental pathway evolutionary tree

The and Evolutionary views Naturphilosophen

Great Chain of Being

Note − The picture here is very much a

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.27/39

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.28/39

Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) in 1869

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.29/39

Lamarck’s theory versus Darwin’s

Lamarck Darwin/Wallace

Genetic variation important? No Yes

Differential survival or reproduction? No Yes

Mutations are in what direction? adaptive random

Phenotypic changes inherited? Yes maybe

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.30/39

Fleeming Jenkin

Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885) Fleeming Jenkin BuildingUniversity of Edinburgh

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.31/39

Blending inheritance and selection

0

2

4

8

10

0 10 20 30 40

Value of character

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.32/39

The Biometricians

Francis Galton (1822-1911) Karl Pearson (1857-1936)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.33/39

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.34/39

Mendel in his school

The faculty of Mendel’s monastery school

(Mendel is top center-right with flower)

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.35/39

Rediscoverers of Mendel

Carl Correns Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg Hugo De Vries

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.36/39

Founders of theoretical population genetics

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

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.37/39

Developers and popularizers of the Neodarwinian Synthesis

Ernst Mayr George Gaylord Simpson Sir Julian Huxley

G. Ledyard Stebbins Theodosius Dobzhansky

History of Genetics in Evolution – p.38/39

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 make a PDF file, and

displaying the slides in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Result: nice slides using freeware.

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