Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: Evolutionary genomics and the reach of selection. | Journal of Biology BioMed Central Opinion Evolutionary genomics and the reach of selection Laurence D Hurst Address Department of Biology and Biochemistry University of Bath Bath Somerset BA2 7AY UK. Email Published 23 February 2009 Journal of Biology 2009 8 12 doi jbiol113 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http content 8 2 12 2009 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract Unexpected findings in evolutionary genomics both question the role of selection in genome evolution and clarify how genomes work. Why is studying the way that genes and genomes evolve interesting There are many generally accepted answers. Looking for places in a genome that are highly conserved is an efficient means to locate functionally important sequences usually genes or gene regulatory domains. Conversely unusually fast-evolving sequences can suggest where Darwinian selection might have acted to cause important differences between species. We can discover which gene families can be easily expanded or lost which species are related to which others and where genes have been transferred horizontally between species rather than being transmitted by descent. But if you ask me what I think is especially interesting about evolutionary genomics then let me give a bit of history. In the 1970s and 80s there was a large school of evolutionary biology much of it focused on understanding animal behavior that to a first approximation assumed that whatever trait was being looked at was the product of selection. Richard Dawkins is probably the most widely known advocate for this school of thought John Maynard Smith and Bill WD Hamilton its main proponents. The game played in this field was one in which ever more ingenious selectionist hypotheses would be put forward and tested. The possibility that selection might not be the answer was given short shrift. By contrast during the same period non-selectionist theories were gaining .
