Natural selection depends on heritable phenotypic variation. The most obvious source of phenotypic variation is genotypic variation. A new study, by Casanueva et al. in Science (2012) suggests that in addition to genotypic variation, variation in life history and...
As noted in my last post, the selective advantage of heterozygosity for the sickle allele at the beta-globin locus has been known since Allison’s report in 1954 (Lancet). Nevertheless, a plausible and detailed mechanism to account for the protective effect of an...
There is probably no more canonical example of the relevance of evolutionary genetics to clinical medicine than sickle cell disease. The relevance of the sickle allele, in heterozygous form, at the beta-globin locus for resistance to falciparum malaria was published...
Among the most pressing global public health problems at present is the AIDS epidemic. While it is clear that chemotherapy and behavioral interventions have much to offer in limiting the spread of infections by the causative virus, HIV-1, interest in developing a...
In the May 26 (2011) issue of Nature, Vijaykrishna et al. address patterns of evolution and transmission exhibited by swine influenza A viruses (SwIV) isolated from pigs beings slaughtered in Hong Kong between May 1998 and January 2010. Although the focus of the...
