Hi all,
This paper just came out in the Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics.
This might answer Moorad's question a couple of weeks ago on practical
applications of evolutionary theory.
Marcio
---------------------------------------
Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 2001. 32:183-217.
APPLIED EVOLUTION
J. J. Bull1 and H. A. Wichman2
1Section of Integrative Biology, Institute of Cellular and Molecular
Biology, University of Texas,
Austin, Texas 78712-1023; e-mail: bull@bull.biosci.utexas.edu
2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
83844-3051; e-mail:
hwichman@uidaho.edu
KEY WORDS: artificial selection, directed evolution, phylogenetics,
resistance, evolutionary computation
Evolutionary biology is widely perceived as a discipline with relevance
that lies purely in academia. Until recently, that perception was largely
true, except for the often neglected role of evolutionary biology in the
improvement of agricultural crops and animals. In the past two decades,
however, evolutionary biology has assumed a broad relevance extending far
outside its original bounds. Phylogenetics, the study of Darwin's theory of
"descent with modification," is now the foundation of disease tracking and
of the identification of species in medical, pharmacological, or
conservation settings. It further underlies bioinformatics approaches to
the analysis of genomes. Darwin's "evolution by natural selection" is being
used in many contexts, from the design of biotechnology protocols to create
new drugs and industrial enzymes, to the avoidance of resistant pests and
microbes, to the development of new computer technologies. These examples
present opportunities for education of the public and for
nontraditional career paths in evolutionary biology. They also provide new
research material for people trained in classical approaches.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marcio R. Pie
Department of Biology
Boston University
5 Cummington St.
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: (617) 353-6974
FAX: (617) 353-6340
http://people.bu.edu/pie/
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