Evolutionary Genetics: From Molecules to Morphology

The past 35 years have witnessed a revolution in evolutionary genetics that, like the proverbial The Little Engine that Could going over the mountain pass, shows no signs of slowing, much less stopping. To a considerable extent, we owe much to one per son, Richard Lewontin, for getting this little train over the hump and conducting it while the masses have shoveled coal into the boiler. Indeed, few have had such a substantive and pervasive impact on evolutionary biology in general, and so this edited volume is a welcome and welldeserved tribute to the powerful and varied influence of Lewontin on the fast-growing, important discipline of evolutionary genetics. Disciplines Behavior and Ethology | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Evolution | Genetics | Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Comments This book review is from The Quarterly Review of Biology 76 (2001): 351. Posted with permission. This book review is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/zool_pubs/2  The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 76, No. 3 (Sep., 2001), pp. 351-352  The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2664877 Accessed: 20-07-2016 20:03 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Quarterly Review of Biology This content downloaded from 129.186.176.217 on Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms This content downloaded from 129.186.176.217 on Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 352 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY VOLUME 76 pirically-oriented contribution (Chapter 5) on synonymous substitutions. It is my sense, however, that our understanding of codon bias would be greatly improved by at least two additional approaches: adopt a more explicitly phylogenetic, comparative framework (e.g., use well-defined series of outgroups with a phylogenetic tree structure) and recognize that not all identical amino acids within a gene are equally free selectively to vary (e.g., freedom to vary might depend on the impact of a given amino acid on the secondary structure of the gene). We must strive to increase our level of sophistication in models of molecular evolution. Berry and Barbadilla (Chapter 6) nicely and provocatively illustrate the underappreciated role of gene conversion in contributing to intralocus genetic diversity (contra crossing over, which is more important in generating inter-. locus genetic diversity). Gene conversion is surely important in many ways; still, predictions of models of gene conversion can be improved by incorporating back (compensatory) mutation, which is increasingly recognized as a significant factor in different evolutionary models. Other highlights include Levin's (Chapter 12) engrossingly written essay on antibiotic resistance, Slatkin's (Chapter 21) revealing and insightful description of issues involving gene flow, and Maynard Smith's (Chapter 30) entertaining and illuminating (and often personal) discussion of historical aspects of animal behavior, particularly sexual selection, as they coevolved with evolutionary theory in the past 100 years. There are many other great chapters too, but I would be deeply remiss not to mention Felsenstein's (Chapter 29) delightful recounting of and reflection on the maturation of population genetics over the past 35 years. I eagerly consumed nuggets of testable ideas that were liberally sprinkled throughout. For example, I was intrigued by Felsenstein's speculations on disentangling the roles of selection and drift in causing between-population differentiation in a trait of interest by appealing to the rapidly growing Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) database. I also enjoyed his take on other crucial issues, including the growing use of Bayesian methods in evolutionary genetics, and the need to forge stronger links between molecular evolutionary data and ecological models. The editors are to be applauded for assembling such a stellar cast of evolutionary geneticists, an unintentional although highly appropriate example of the brilliance of the Lewontin coalescent. One particularly nice touch was a list of Lewontin's publications, from his first (a book review in 1952) to nearly ten ii 1999 (including books, chapters, commentaries, and peer-reviewed articles in the primary literature). In line with the theme of this celebratory book, an insightful addition would have included a list of students and postdoctoral researchers who have trained under Lewontin. Still, considering the length of the book, many of the chapters are intense, and the price is rather high. I hope that these obstacles are not insurmountable for students and practitioners of this field because the effort is worth it.  Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa ADAPTIVE GENETIC VARIATION IN THE WILD. Edited by Timothly A Mousseau, Ba"ry Sinervo, and John A Endler. Oxford and Nezv York:  index.  0-19512183-X. 2000. This superb collection of 11 chapters focuses on biological function and ecological process as the basis for natural selection, and the role of genetic architecture (e.g., number of loci and alleles, gene expression, and interactions among loci) in molding the evolutionary response to selection. In addition to gathering information on microevolution in several important model systems, the chapters illustrate diverse methods to study natural selection and the genetics of adaptive traits in natural populations, and highlight the value of exploiting unusual properties of model organisms (e.g., cross-fostering in wild birds) to gain otherwise unattainable insights. Six chapters summarize specific model systems, with three on birds and one each on a lizard, an insect, and a flowering plant. Generally, one or more closely related species and traits are considered in depth. Another chapter compares postglacial freshwater fish groups to infer patterns of adaptive genetic divergence. Two chapters emphasize methodology: one concerns use of molecular markers to estimate relationships and phenotypic similarities among relatives to estimate inheritance in natural populations, and the other compares heritabilities estimated using laboratory and natural populations of Drosophila. Mousseau's chapter reviews analyses using several unrelated species and diverse methods. Endler does a good job of tying together the chapters, addressing infrequent errors in previous chapters, and listing goals for future research. The cohesiveness of this collection of papers, combined with the diversity of methods and organisms discussed, make it an excellent textbook for graduate seminars. Itwill also be invaluable to investigators as a source of research methods. On average, the quality of the papers is variable, but high. Some of the model systems reviewed are better developed than others, and there are occasional lapses of presentation. The final two chapters help integrate the book, and an index facilitates location of topics within different chapters. This volume will This content downloaded from 129.186.176.217 on Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms