The Origins of Genome Architecture (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With official genomic blueprints now available for hundreds of species, and thousands more expected in the near future, the field of biology has been forever transformed. Such readily accessible data have encouraged the proliferation of adaptive arguments for the evolution of gene and genomic features, often with little or no attention being given to simpler and more powerful alternative explanations. By integrating the central observations from molecular biology and population genetics relevant to comparative genomics, Lynch shows why the details matter.

Presented in a nontechnical fashion, at both the population-genetic and molecular-genetic levels, this book offers a unifying explanatory framework for how the peculiar architectural diversity of eukaryotic genomes and genes came to arise. Under Lynch's hypothesis, the genome-wide repatterning of eukaryotic gene structure, which resulted primarily from nonadaptive processes, provided an entirely novel resource from which natural selection could secondarily build new forms of organismal complexity.

About the Author

MICHAEL LYNCH is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biology at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. BRUCE WALSH is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, USA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: Sinauer Associates Inc; 1 edition (March 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878934847
• ISBN-13: 978-0878934843
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #473,505 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Non-conventional ... but compelling, November 8, 2009

By	P. Mcbride (Grey Lynn, Auckland New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lynch makes the case that the transition from prokaryote to eukaryote - and the evolution of multicellularity and greater complexity afterward - are best explained by non-adaptive processes. Genetic drift, rather than natural selection, may have cause the necessary genome expansions that we see in the higher lineages, along with increasing amounts of ambiguous, non-coding DNA with no known purpose.

Lynch's case is an extremely strong, refreshing and compelling one. His writing is clear and simple, considering the subject matter. However, this is not quite a beginner's book. Lynch's case is fairly one-sided; he does not give an enormous amount of consideration to alternative possibilities, whether such alternatives necessarily invoke natural selection or not. Reduced population size is certainly symptomatic of increased organismal complexity and size. It does not automatically follow that it is caused by this reduction. Further, we should be careful about invoking traditional population genetics theory in light of more recent genomics work, which challenges many of the traditional core assumptions. Note, this is a caveat, and not a criticism (hence, the 5-star rating); Lynch is simply making his case. Nonetheless, this approach could lead a new reader to assume that the case is closed - that Lynch's explanation is comprehensive and there is no more work to be done.

In reality, this book, along with many of Lynch's recent publications in prestigious journals, open whole avenues of investigation which need urgent attention. Lynch and his contemporaries appear to be well-equipped to undertake this work.

7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Original view on evolution, August 13, 2007

By	Elmars Grens (Riga, Latvia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book offers a non-conventional view on biological evolution, particularly that of animals, including humans. Solid molecular and population genetic analysis reveal that evolution of higher eukaryotes are realised predominantly by genetic drift of pseudo neutral mutations rather than by Darwinian type selection mechanisms. Authors' concept also might be applied to explain so far less discussed issue on the direction of evolution - from primitive forms towards more developed organisms.