Evolutionary Biology: Biodiversification from Genotype to Phenotype

This book presents 20 selected contributions to the 18th Evolutionary Biology Meeting, which took place in September 2014 in Marseille. They are grouped under the following major themes:

·       Genotype to Phenotype

·       Genetic Mechanisms of Diversification

·       Evolutionary Mechanisms

·       Speciation and Biodiversity

The aims of these annual meetings in Marseille are to bring together leading evolutionary biologists and other scientists who employ evolutionary biology concepts, e.g. for medical research, and to promote the exchange of ideas and encourage interdisciplinary collaborations.

Offering an up-to-date overview of recent advances in the field of evolutionary biology, this book represents an invaluable source of information for scientists, teachers and advanced students.

Functional mapping: How to map genes for phenotypic plasticity of development.- The genomics of sexual ornaments, gene identification and pleiotropy.- Life’s dual nature: a way out of the impasse of the gene-centred ‘versus’ complex systems controversy on life.- Retrotransposons: Genomic and Trans-Genomic Agents of Change.- Horizontal Transfers and the New Model of the Driven Genome Evolution in Eurkaryotes.- The impact of transposable elements in the evolution of plant genomes: from selfish elements to key players.- Sympatric Differentiation and Speciation: Insights from Drosophila Studies.- Mutation-Driven Evolution: Microsatellite Instability Drives Speciation in a Mammalian Taxon.- Adaptive diversification in coevolutionary systems.- Structure, interaction and evolution: Reflections on the natural history of proteins.- Pollination syndromes: a global pattern of convergent evolution driven by the most effective pollinator.- Altruism, Religion and Self-Enhancement in a Framework of Ad-Hoc Evolutionary Adaptation.- Investigating Trade-offs in Sexual Populations with Gene-flow.- Promoter Order Strategy and Bacterial PspF Regulon Evolution.- Genomic admixture and species delimitation in forest trees.- Apomixis as a facilitator of range expansion and diversification in plants.- Elopomorpha (Teleostei) as a new model fish group for evolutionary biology and comparative genomics.- Looks can be deceiving: cryptic species and phenotypic plasticity in Rhodnius spp., Chagas disease vectors.- Forest Tree Species Traced with a DNA Based Proof for Illegal Logging case in Poland.- Domestication and genetics: what a comparison between land and aquatic species can bring?.