Brian D. Sykes Knihy

Autor seznamuje v knize, která se čte téměř jako detektivka, s nejnovějšími objevy vycházejícími ze studia lidské mitochondriální DNA. Čtenář se tak dočte o metodách studia DNA ve fosilním materiálu, o genetice "ledovcového muže", o případu "muže z Cheddaru", identifikaci ostatků carské rodiny, vyřešení záhady původu Polynésanů, problému jednoty a stáří lidstva a osídlení Evropy. Na základě svých výzkumů lidské mitochondriální DNA, předávané pouze na děti ženského pohlaví, dospívá autor k názoru, že všichni Evropané pocházejí ze sedmi žen, sedmi pramatek, které přišly do Evropy v různých dobách v průběhu uplynulých 45 000 let. Tento objev také významně podpořil teorii, podle níž je třeba kolébku dnešních lidí hledat v Africe. Genetický výzkum tak vnáší nové světlo do lidské historie.

Kniha zachycuje bouřlivý rozvoj lékařské genetiky, ke kterému došlo v 90. letech tohoto století, zejména otázky genomického imprintování, identifikace genů lidských chorob, projektu lidského genomu, mutací expanzí trinukleotidových repeticí, atd. Kniha je určena pro pre- a postgraduální studenty, lékaře i ostatní specialisty, jakož i pro další zájemce o lékařskou genetiku.

The author of Seven Daughters of Eve returns with a lively account of how all dogs are descended from a mere handful of wolves. How did wolves evolve into dogs? When did this happen, and what role did humans play? Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes used the full array of modern technology to explore the canine genetic journey that likely began when a human child decided to adopt a wolf cub thousands of years ago. In the process, he discovered that only a handful of genes have created the huge range of shapes, sizes, and colors in modern dogs. Providing scientific insight into these adaptive stages, Sykes focuses attention on our own species, and how our own evolution from (perhaps equally aggressive) primates was enhanced by this most unlikely ally. Whether examining our obsession with canine purity, or delving into the prehistoric past to answer the most fundamental question of all, “Why do we love our dog so much?,” Once a Wolf is an engaging work no dog lover or ancestry aficionado should be without.

In 54 B.C. Julius Caesar launched the Roman invasion of Britain. His was the first detailed account of the Celtic tribes that inhabited the Isles. But where had they come from and how long had they been there? When the Romans eventually left five hundred years later, they were succeeded by Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans. Did these successive invasions obliterate the genetic legacy of the Celts, or did they have very little effect? After two decades tracing the genetic origins of peoples from all over the world, Bryan Sykes has now turned the spotlight on his own back yard. In a major research programme, the first of its kind, he and his team at Oxford University set out to test the DNA of over ten thousand volunteers from across Britain and Ireland with the specific aim of answering this very question: what is our modern genetic make-up and what does it tell us of our tribal past? Where are today¿s Celtic genes? Did Vikings only rape and pillage, or did they settle with their families? And what of the genetic legacy of the Saxons and the Normans? Are the modern people of the Isles a delicious genetic cocktail? Or did the invaders keep mostly to themselves, forming separate genetic layers within the Isles? And where do you fit in? - BOOK JACKET.

Examines the history and future of the Y chromosome and maintains that because it is unable to exchange genetic material or repair itself, the day will come when it will cease to exist.