Experimental Evolution: The Making of a Modern Science connects molecular biology/biochemistry with ecology/evolution to show how molecular mechanisms and ecological processes work together to drive evolutionary change. The book's four-part structure, covering Preliminaries, The Molecular Basis of Fitness, The Ecological Context of Competition, and Cooperation and Conflict, helps those with a background in the molecular sciences to learn about the ecological context of fitness while those trained in ecology and evolution will find segues to the biochemical basis of adaptation. This organization also facilitates outsiders entering the field as it closely follows the biological silos, separating molecular phenomena from ecological phenomena, while clearly delineating how these levels interact to produce evolutionary change.
The book shows how well-designed experiments can be used to test evolutionary theory decisively. The focus is on microbes. Their small size, rapid reproduction in chemically defined environments, ease of manipulation and stability in long-term storage make them ideal subjects for laboratory experiments. Higher organisms make occasional appearances--to effect. Rigorous experimental approaches have resolved old controversies, resurrected heretical ideas, and will continue to revitalize and expand the study of natural selection. This book serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in natural selection and the evolutionary process and interested in insights from approaches not familiar within their own fields.
Tony Dean, PhD, was instrumental in developing studies of the biochemical basis of natural election and introducing molecular phenotype in the form of protein structure-function studies to molecular evolution. He earned his PhD from Washington University in St Louis in 1987 studying the metabolic basis of microbial fitness in the laboratory of Daniel L. Hartl. He continued this work as a post-doctoral fellow under Robert Haines at York University in Toronto before moving to the University of California at Berkeley in 1988 to gain expertise in protein structure and function in the laboratory of Daniel E. Koshland Jr. In 1991 he joined the faculty in the Department of Biochemistry at The Chicago Medical School where he initiated studies in enzyme engineering and the biochemical basis of ancient adaptations. In 1999 he joined the faculty in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota where he continued these studies and expanded on them. His interests in ecology led him to explore the impact of space and environmental fluctuations on the outcome of competition and evolution. His interests in chemistry led him to explore the evolution of enzyme catalytic mechanisms. In 2013 he joined Sun-Yat Sen University in Guangzhou, China as a Thousand Talents Professor, splitting his appointment with the University of Minnesota. He returned in 2017 where he continues to this day, studying methods to stop evolution in the fermentation industry. Dr. Dean has published 85 peer-reviewed articles, many in high-profile journals (Nature, Science, PNAS, etc.). For many years he served as an associate editor of Trends in Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Journal of Molecular Evolution, and Evolution. He is widely regarded, having organized numerous international symposia and meetings and having served on NIH and NSF grant panels for many years. He has given over 150 invited departmental and symposia seminars throughout North America, Europe, Australasia, and Asia.
Dan Dykhuizen, PhD, is recognized as one of the founding fathers of the field of microbial evolution. He earned his PhD from Chicago University in 1971 where, in the laboratory of Dick Lewontin, he first developed the chemostat competition assay to assess the cost of protein expression. He pursued a post doctoral fellowship at Stanford University studying microbial genetics in the laboratory of Allan Campbell. In 1972 he moved to The Australian National University where he continued his chemostat studies as a research fellow. In 1976 he returned to the USA to work as a research scientist in the laboratory of Daniel L. Hartl, first at Purdue University and then at Washington University in St Louis, studying the fitness effects of allozymes. He joined the faculty at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University in 1987. There, he pursued his interests in experimental evolution and the genetic structure of microbial populations until his retirement as a Distinguished Professor in 2013. He was Professeur invité at the Institut Pasteur in 2001, served as Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Louisville in 2006-2007 and as a Visiting Scholar, Microbial section, in the Broad Institute in 2011-2012. Dr. Dykhuizen has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, many in high-profile journals (Nature, Science, PNAS, etc.). He has served on the editorial boards of Genetica, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Journal of Bacteriology, Quarterly Review of Biology, PLOS Pathogenesis, Infection Genetics and Evolution, and the Journal of Evolutionary Medicine. He was Editor in Chief of Quarterly Review of Biology from 2010 to 2021. He also has organized numerous international symposia and meetings and has served on NIH, DOE and NSF grant panels over the years. He has delivered over 150 invited deparmental and symposial seminars throughout North America, Europe, and Australasia.
