From Clone to Bone
The Synergy of Morphological and Molecular Tools in Palaeobiology

Top researchers show how molecular biology can inform paleontology, directly and indirectly, to better understand life's past.

Robert J. Asher (Edited by), Johannes Müller (Edited by)

9780521176767, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 October 2012

396 pages, 65 b/w illus. 16 colour illus. 8 tables
24.5 x 17.4 x 2 cm, 0.84 kg

'Each chapter is written in an accessible manner, and is appropriate for graduate-level students to late career scientists. Asher and Müller have assembled an exciting volume that provides great cohesive insight into the synergistic nature of modern paleontology and molecular biology.' The Quarterly Review of Biology

Since the 1980s, a renewed understanding of molecular development has afforded an unprecedented level of knowledge of the mechanisms by which phenotype in animals and plants has evolved. In this volume, top scientists in these fields provide perspectives on how molecular data in biology help to elucidate key questions in estimating paleontological divergence and in understanding the mechanisms behind phenotypic evolution. Paleobiological questions such as genome size, digit homologies, genetic control cascades behind phenotype, estimates of vertebrate divergence dates, and rates of morphological evolution are addressed, with a special emphasis on how molecular biology can inform paleontology, directly and indirectly, to better understand life's past. Highlighting a significant shift towards interdisciplinary collaboration, this is a valuable resource for students and researchers interested in the integration of organismal and molecular biology.

List of contributors
1. Molecular tools in paleobiology: divergence and mechanisms Robert J. Asher and Johannes Müller
Part I. Divergence: 2. Genomics and the lost world: paleontological insights into genome evolution Chris Organ
3. Rocking clocks and clocking rocks: a critical look at divergence time estimation in mammals Olaf R. P. Bininda-Emonds, Robin M. D. Beck and Ross D. E. MacPhee
4. Morphological largess: can morphology offer more and be modeled as a stochastic evolutionary process? Hans C. E. Larsson, T. Alexander Dececchi and Luke B. Harrison
5. Species selection in the molecular age Carl Simpson and Johannes Müller
Part II. Mechanisms: 6. Reconstructing the molecular underpinnings of morphological diversification: a case study of the Triassic fish Saurichthys Leonhard Schmid
7. A molecular guide to regulation of morphological pattern in the vertebrate dentition and the evolution of dental development Moya Smith and Zerina Johanson
8. Molecular biology of the mammalian dentary: insights into how complex skeletal elements can be shaped during development and evolution Neal Anthwal and Abigail S. Tucker
9. Flexibility and constraint: patterning the axial skeleton in mammals Emily A. Buchholtz
10. Molecular determinants of marsupial limb integration and constraint Karen E. Sears, Carolyn K. Doroba, Xiaoyi Cao, Dan Xie and Sheng Zhong
11. A developmental basis for innovative evolution of the turtle shell Shigeru Kuratani and Hiroshi Nagashima
12. A molecular-morphological study of a peculiar limb morphology: the development and evolution of the mole's 'thumb' Christian Mitgutsch, Michael K. Richardson, Merijn A. G. de Bakker, Rafael Jiménez, José Ezequiel Martín, Peter Kondrashov and Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra
13. Manus horribilis: the chicken wing skeleton Michael K. Richardson
Index.

Subject Areas: Palaeontology [RBX], Molecular biology [PSD], Evolution [PSAJ], Taxonomy & systematics [PSAB], Biology, life sciences [PS]