The Foundations of Genetics describes the historical development of genetics with emphasis on the contributions to advancing genetical knowledge and the various applications of genetics. The book reviews the work of Gregor Mendel, his Law of Segregation, and of Ernst Haeckel who suggested that the nucleus is that part of the cell that is responsible for heredity. The text also describes the studies of W. Johannsen on "pure lines," and his introduction of the terms gene, genotype, and phenotype. The book explains the theory of the gene and the notion that hereditary particles are borne by the chromosomes (Sutton-Boveri hypothesis). Of the constituent parts of the nucleus only the chromatin material divides at mitosis and segregates during maturation. Following studies confirm that the chromatin material, present in the form of chromosomes with a constant and characteristic number and appearance for each species, is indeed the hereditary material. The book describes how Muller in 1927, showed that high precision energy radiation is the external cause to mutation in the gene itself if one allele can mutate without affecting its partner. The superstructure of genetics built upon the foundations of Mendelism has many applications including cytogenetics, polyploidy, human genetics, eugenics, plant breeding, radiation genetics, and the evolution theory. The book can be useful to academicians and investigators in the fields of genetics such as biochemical, biometrical, microbial, and pharmacogenetics. Students in agriculture, anthropology, botany, medicine, sociology, veterinary medicine, and zoology should add this text to their list of primary reading materials.

A definitive account of the origins of modern mathematical population genetics, first published in 2000.

In the small “Fly Room†at Columbia University, T.H. Morgan and his students, A.H. Sturtevant, C.B. Bridges, and H.J. Muller, carried out the work that laid the foundations of modern, chromosomal genetics. The excitement of those times, when the whole field of genetics was being created, is captured in this book, written in 1965 by one of those present at the beginning. His account is one of the few authoritative, analytic works on the early history of genetics. This attractive reprint is accompanied by a website, http://www.esp.org/books/sturt/history/ offering full-text versions of the key papers discussed in the book, including the world's first genetic map.

The Middle East plays a major role in the history of genetic science. Early in the twentieth century, technological breakthroughs in human genetics coincided with the birth of modern Middle Eastern nation-states, who proclaimed that the region's ancient history—as a cradle of civilizations and crossroads of humankind—was preserved in the bones and blood of their citizens. Using letters and publications from the 1920s to the present, Elise K. Burton follows the field expeditions and hospital surveys that scrutinized the bodies of tribal nomads and religious minorities. These studies, geneticists claim, not only detect the living descendants of biblical civilizations but also reveal the deeper past of human evolution. Genetic Crossroads is an unprecedented history of human genetics in the Middle East, from its roots in colonial anthropology and medicine to recent genome sequencing projects. It illuminates how scientists from Turkey to Yemen, Egypt to Iran, transformed genetic data into territorial claims and national origin myths. Burton shows why such nationalist appropriations of genetics are not local or temporary aberrations, but rather the enduring foundations of international scientific interest in Middle Eastern populations to this day.

An accessible but rigorous treatment of the theoretical foundations of population genetics. Population genetics—the branch of evolutionary biology concerned with understanding how and why populations’ genetic compositions change over time—rests on a well-developed theoretical foundation that draws on genetics, mathematics, and computer science. This textbook provides an approachable but rigorous treatment for advanced undergraduate and graduate students interested in building a quantitative understanding of the genetics of evolution. Existing texts either assume very mathematically advanced readers, or avoid much of the underlying theory, instead focusing on current methods of data analysis. In contrast, The Foundations of Population Genetics develops the theory from first principles. Requiring only confidence in algebra, this self-contained, student-friendly book illustrates the conceptual framework, terminology, and methods of mathematical modeling. It progressively introduces concepts from genetics as needed, while emphasizing biological implications throughout. As a result, readers come away with a deep understanding of the structure of population genetics without needing to master its mathematics. Connects theory with the most recent genetic data better than existing texts Features engaging real-world examples and extensive original figures Provides dozens of carefully scaffolded questions that deepen the reader's understanding of key concepts Ideal as a succinct reference for established scientists in biology, medicine, and computer science Instructor resources available