Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on December 16, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msj077
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
23/5/883    most recent
msj077v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Greenberg, A. J.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, C.-I
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Greenberg, A. J.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, C.-I
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Accepted December 12, 2005

Review

Molecular Genetics of Natural Populations

Anthony J. Greenberg 1 * and Chung-I Wu 1

1 Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Anthony J. Greenberg, E-mail: tonyg{at}uchicago.edu


  Abstract

Significant progress in evolutionary genetics has been made by studying on the one hand patterns of DNA sequence polymorphism, and on the other genetic architecture of complex adaptive traits. However, connections between nucleotide variants under selection and adaptively relevant phenotypes are missing. Such connections can be established using precise gene replacement. We review the recent successful introduction of this technique to the analisys of two evolutionarily interesting loci - Ods and ds2 . Both genes have subtle phenotypes that nevertheless could be identified using gene replacement, demonstrating that effects of naturally occurring alleles can be measured in the laboratory. This is an important first step in connecting statistical signatures of selection with adaptation in nature. More candidate genes involved in adaptation, for example through cloning of genes responsible for reproductive isolation, now need to be identified. Molecular genetic manipulation, DNA polymorphism analysis and field studies then have to be integrated to provide fresh insight into the mechanisms of evolutionary change.

Keywords: gene replacement; population genetics; adaptation; speciation.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.