Cells, Embryos and Evolution [Paperback]

Jon Gerhart (Author), Marc Kirschner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0865425744 | ISBN-13: 978-0865425743 | Publication Date: June 4, 1997 | Edition: 1

In Cells, Embryos and Evolution the authors' ambition is to continue what Charles Darwin began: to understand not only the influence of selection on evolution but also the capacity of an organism to generate heritable variation upon which selection can act. Drawing on the theories derived from molecular, cellular and developmental biology in the past 20 years, John Gerhart and Marc Kirschner have begun to explain the origins of phenotypic variation and evolutionary adaptation from within eukaryotic cell biological and developmental processes. This has required them to confront the following paradox: on the one hand, deep cellular and molecular conservation and the extraordinary stability of body plans of the major metazoan phyla; and on the other hand, the rapid diversification of the anatomy and physiology of organisms.

Cells, Embryos and Evolution is richly illustrated with examples drawn from modern palaeontology, developmental biology, and cell biology. It sets out to establish a coherent basis for evaluating the role of cellular and embryological mechanisms in evolutionary change.

• A ground-breaking text in the new subject of cellular evolution.
  
• Written by two extremely distinguished authors.
  
• Every cell biologist, molecular biologist and evolutionary biologist will want a copy of this book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In Cells, Embryos and Evolution the authors' ambition is to continue what Charles Darwin began: to understand not only the influence of selection on evolution but also the capacity of an organism to generate heritable variation upon which selection can act. Drawing on the theories derived from molecular, cellular and developmental biology in the past 20 years, John Gerhart and Marc Kirschner have begun to explain the origins of phenotypic variation and evolutionary adaptation from within eukaryotic cell biological and developmental processes. This has required them to confront the following paradox: on the one hand, deep cellular and molecular conservation and the extraordinary stability of body plans of the major metazoan phyla; and on the other hand, the rapid diversification of the anatomy and physiology of organisms.

Cells, Embryos and Evolution is richly illustrated with examples drawn from modern palaeontology, developmental biology, and cell biology. It sets out to establish a coherent basis for evaluating the role of cellular and embryological mechanisms in evolutionary change.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865425744
• ISBN-13: 978-0865425743
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,368,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Destined to be a classic, August 7, 1999

By 

Edmund Paley "Lutheran Biochemist" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cells, Embryos and Evolution (Paperback)

This book does a great job of unifying the many disparate threads of modern biology. This is one of the few books on biology written in this decade that may actually cause readers to see life from a new point of view. Destined to be a classic, right up there with D'Arcy Thompson's "Growth and Form" or Ptashne's book on phage lambda. Also this book is fun to read because there are tons of illustrations and also lots of interesting factoids about all sorts of weird organisms. If you are going to buy a book about biology, buy this one!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Evolution via development, November 26, 2000

By 

Howard Schneider (Thornhill, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cells, Embryos and Evolution (Paperback)

The general reader who has already read some other references on development, will find this reference to be an easy to read yet detailed reference on evolutionary development which takes interesting conceptual viewpoints. The reference starts by pointing out the significant amount of cellular mechanisms conserved in all forms of life. The concept of 'contingency' is then developed, where it is considered to be the dependence of cellular activities on particular conditions, and its importance in metazoans. This leads to the concept of 'exploratory behavior', where it is considered to be responses of the organism to be more than can be explained by contingent mechanisms. For example, a version of the protozoan Stentor that is only .1% of the usual volume, yet its overall shape, the patterns of its cilia and gullet, are not changed. Plasticity observed in the nervous system is another such example. The concept of 'novelty' is then discussed, largely how new proteins have emerged. Multicellularity and differentiation are then considered, followed by the emergence of various body plans. The concept of developmental flexibility and robustness is considered as the development of the embryo is discussed. Limb buds and neural crest cells are then discussed as sources of evolutionary diversification of the vertebrate body plan. The final chapter of the reference considers the concept of 'evolvability', where it is considered to be the capability of organisms to produce nonlethal, phenotypic variations which natural selection can act upon, and thus allow evolution.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The road to a new understanding of multicellular life, November 9, 2002

By 

C. R. Cann (Winnetka, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cells, Embryos and Evolution (Paperback)

John Gerhart and Marc Kirschner have boldly displayed a panorama of recent findings in biology which they methodically piece together into an entirely new understanding of the phylogenic and embryologic mechanisms of evolution. While aimed at the more sophisticated scientific reader (not an introductory text), their facility with modern experiments and exotic findings provide a thrilling ride from intracellular transduction mechanisms, through the differing phylogenetic strategies for embryogenesis (all phyla having been explosively formed in a brief "instant" after the first metazoans) and the secrets of evolvabilily making thier appearance in the embrogenetic regulatory mechanisms, not the structural proteins. For anyone who has ever found random mutation and selection an unsatisfying answer to evolution when all other biological processes are so exquisitely regulated (e.g. "Behavior and Evolution," Jean Piaget), Gerhart and Kirschner demonstrate that evolution is more of an extention of the generally "exploratory" property which is so central to life. This book is sure to spur a generation of new, productive thinking on the entire evolutionary paradigm. Perhaps when linked with work on structural stability in neural networks, a new macroscopic quantum formulation of biology may succeed a less informative and outdated stochastic formulation. [...]