Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Theory and Methods
- 1 Evolutionary Theory
- 2 The Study of Human Adaptation
- 3 History of the Study of Human Biology
- 4 Genetics in Human Biology
- 5 Demography
- 6 History, Methods, and General Applications of Anthropometry in Human Biology
- 7 Energy Expenditure and Body Composition: History, Methods, and Inter-relationships
- 8 Evolutionary Endocrinology
- 9 Ethical Considerations for Human Biology Research
- Commentary: a Primer on Human Subjects Applications and Informed Consents
- Part II Phenotypic and Genotypic Variation
- Part III Reproduction
- Part IV Growth and Development
- Part V Health and Disease
- Index
- References
4 - Genetics in Human Biology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Theory and Methods
- 1 Evolutionary Theory
- 2 The Study of Human Adaptation
- 3 History of the Study of Human Biology
- 4 Genetics in Human Biology
- 5 Demography
- 6 History, Methods, and General Applications of Anthropometry in Human Biology
- 7 Energy Expenditure and Body Composition: History, Methods, and Inter-relationships
- 8 Evolutionary Endocrinology
- 9 Ethical Considerations for Human Biology Research
- Commentary: a Primer on Human Subjects Applications and Informed Consents
- Part II Phenotypic and Genotypic Variation
- Part III Reproduction
- Part IV Growth and Development
- Part V Health and Disease
- Index
- References
Summary
By now you most likely have discerned that human biologists focus much of their research on variation. Their studies have investigated humans at multiple levels of organization and interaction, from within cells to between large populations. The primary subject of this chapter will be genes, and our aims are to define what genes are and what they do, how they become variable, how they are transmitted between generations, and how they undergo evolutionary processing. More formally, the areas to be addressed are Mendelian genetics, human genetics, molecular genetics, and population genetics. In addition, there will be some discussion of newly developing research areas of interest to human biologists, for instance, epigenetics. Along the way we will point out where certain topics covered here are addressed, and often more fully presented, in other chapters of the volume. We will begin with a brief look back into history when earlier notions of hereditary transmission began to be transformed into increasingly more accurate foundations that eventually led to our current understanding of the nature of genes.
PARTICULATE THEORY OF INHERITANCE
A prevailing notion up through the nineteenth century was that parents passed on to their offspring equal portions of their traits, such as stature or skin color, that blended into an inseparable mixture. Thus, for example, a mating between a tall and short parent would result in children of intermediate height, who themselves would then go on to produce children of intermediate height.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Human Evolutionary Biology , pp. 48 - 73Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
- 1
- Cited by