Genetic Analysis: A History of Genetic Thinking (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology)

This is a very interesting book, not exactly a text on genetics and heredity, but summarizing the body of knowledge in those fields. It gives an excellent high level view of genetics and shows how individual experiments or discoveries have produced the current science. It is also, in part, a history of the subject relating the way these discoveries have built one upon another. As he discusses the developments in the science he also reflects that as we delve deeper into the understanding of molecules we get further away from the fact that we are really dealing with living, breathing, thinking organisms that somehow go beyond these bare molecules. He looks for a greater understanding between the molecular and the finished living system. The book is written by a genetic scientist who spend the first part of his career working in the field and later moved more to the study of the history and philosophy of the field. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 11 Figures......Page 13 Acknowledgments......Page 15 Introduction......Page 17 Part I From reproduction and generation to heredity......Page 27 1 The biologization of inheritance......Page 30 Natural taxonomies......Page 33 From Systema naturae to hybridization......Page 34 From Histoire naturelle to morphogenetics......Page 37 Nuclear continuity and transmission......Page 39 Mendel in context......Page 41 A well-designed experiment......Page 44 The establishment of genetic analysis......Page 48 Mendel in perspective......Page 50 Part II Faktoren in search of meaning......Page 55 Pangenes and Faktoren......Page 60 The struggle with the conception of genetic analysis......Page 65 The Presence and Absence Hypothesis......Page 68 4 The demise of the unit character......Page 74 Types or traits?......Page 77 Stability of Mendelian factors......Page 80 Darwinian continuous evolution......Page 82 The "genotype conception"......Page 83 Something......Page 84 Part III The chromosome theory of inheritance......Page 91 5 Chromosomes and Mendelian Faktoren......Page 93 The analysis of a white-eyed fly......Page 97 Non-disjunction as proof of the chromosome theory of heredity......Page 99 Challenging the independence of Faktoren......Page 102 The chiasmatype theory......Page 105 6 Mapping the chromosomes......Page 110 Linkage generates virtual gene maps......Page 112 Tetrad analysis......Page 114 The cytological basis of genetic linkage......Page 116 Recombination becomes the tool of genetic analysis......Page 118 Linkage: A reappraisal......Page 122 Euploidy and sex determination......Page 124 Chromosome aberrations as analytic tools......Page 126 Cytology in the service of genetic analysis......Page 129 Functional organization of chromosomes......Page 133 Part IV Genes as the atoms of heredity......Page 141 8 Characterizing the gene......Page 144 If Mendel's law is true for discrete traits it must also hold for continuous traits......Page 145 The material basis of the gene......Page 147 The ClB screening method......Page 152 The induction of mutations......Page 155 9 Analysis of the gene by mutations......Page 157 The target theory......Page 158 Chemical mutagenesis......Page 160 Variegated position effect......Page 162 The gene: An operational view......Page 164 The compound gene: Pseudoallelism challenges the atomic gene concept......Page 168 From phenomenological to molecular analysis......Page 171 10 From evolution to population genetics......Page 174 Part V Increasing resolving power......Page 187 11 Recruiting bacteria and their viruses......Page 194 Bacteria obey the rules of biological transmission......Page 197 Genetic analysis in bacteria......Page 201 12 Molecular "cytogenetics"......Page 207 13 Recombination molecularized......Page 218 Part VI Deducing genes from traits, inducing traits from genes......Page 225 14 How do genes do it?......Page 227 15 The path from DNA to protein......Page 236 Genetic regulation......Page 239 The genetic code......Page 241 The Central Dogma......Page 242 16 Genes in the service of development......Page 247 The role of genes in development......Page 250 Clones and compartments......Page 255 Part VII What is true for E. coli is not true for the elephant......Page 261 17 Extending hybridization to molecules......Page 265 Redundant DNA......Page 266 Integrated networks......Page 270 A source of innovation......Page 273 18 Overcoming the dogma......Page 275 Intervening sequences......Page 276 Integrating the genome......Page 280 Non-coding DNA......Page 282 19 Dominance......Page 284 20 Populations evolve, organisms develop......Page 290 Beyond genic adaptation......Page 293 Development and differentiation......Page 297 Concluding comments......Page 303 Bibliography......Page 309 Index......Page 337 There is a paradox lying at the heart of the study of heredity. To understand the ways in which features are passed down from one generation to the next, we have to dig deeper and deeper into the ultimate nature of things - from organisms, to genes, to molecules. And yet as we do this, increasingly we find we are out of focus with our subjects. What has any of this to do with the living, breathing organisms with which we started? Organisms are living. Molecules are not. How do we relate one to the other? In Genetic Analysis, one of the most important empirical scientists in the field in the twentieth century attempts, through a study of history and drawing on his own vast experience as a practitioner, to face this paradox head-on. His book offers a deep and innovative understanding of our ways of thinking about heredity. The Biologization Of Inheritance -- Mendel : The Design Of An Experiment -- From Faktoren To Unit Characters -- The Demise Of The Unit Character -- Chromosomes And Mendelian Faktoren -- Mapping The Chromosomes -- Cytogenetic Analysis Of The Chromosomes -- Characterizing The Gene -- Analysis Of The Gene By Mutations -- From Evolution To Population Genetics -- Recruiting Bacteria And Their Viruses -- Molecular Cytogenetics -- Recombination Molecularized -- How Do Genes Do It? -- The Path From Dna To Protein -- Genes In The Service Of Development -- Extending Hybridization To Molecules -- Overcoming The Dogma -- Dominance -- Populations Evolve, Organisms Develop. Raphael Falk. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 293-320) And Index.