Darwin’s Pangenesis and Its Rediscovery Part A highlights the findings of Darwin's Pangenesis, an expanded cell theory and unified theory of heredity and variation that strengthened his theory of evolution and explained many phenomena of life. Now, new advances and the discovery of circulating cell-free DNA, mobile RNAs, prions and extracellular vesicles are providing new breakthroughs, thus increasing evidence on the inheritance of acquired characters, graft hybridization, and many other phenomena that Pangenesis suggests. Sections of note in this volume include the rationale, criticisms, influence and recent molecular evidence of Darwin's Pangenesis, as well as its relation to the inheritance of acquired characters, which is often included under the blanket term "transgenerational epigenetic inheritance."
- Presents a comprehensive approach to Darwin’s Pangenesis, which is so little understood that few have recognized its far-reaching importance, but seems today surprisingly modern
- Links Darwin's hypothetical gemmules with circulating cell-free DNA, mobile RNAs, prions and extracellular vesicles, shedding new light on an old theory
- Includes section on Darwin's Pangenesis in relation to the Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characters, a central debate in the history of genetics
| Author's Biography |
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vii | |
| Preface |
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ix | |
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1 Darwin's Pangenesis: A Theory of Everything? |
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1 | (30) |
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1 The Origin of Species: An Incomplete Explanation of Evolution |
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3 | (1) |
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2 The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication: Darwin's Legacy to Genetics |
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4 | (5) |
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3 Pangenesis as an Expanded Cell Theory |
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9 | (6) |
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4 Pangenesis as a Unified Theory of Heredity, Variation, Development and Reproduction |
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15 | (10) |
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5 Darwin's Pangenesis: A Sleeping Beauty? |
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25 | (6) |
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27 | (4) |
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2 The Criticisms of Pangenesis: The Years of Controversy |
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31 | (32) |
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1 Darwin's Pangenesis: A Brilliant Blunder? |
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32 | (1) |
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2 Galton's Failure to Test Pangenesis by Blood Transfusion |
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33 | (9) |
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3 The Problem of the Inheritance of Acquired Characters |
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42 | (7) |
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4 Other Doubtful Phenomena That Pangenesis Supposedly Explains |
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49 | (4) |
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5 Lack of Direct Evidence for the Existence of Gemmules |
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53 | (10) |
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55 | (8) |
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3 The Influence of Darwin's Pangenesis on Later Theories |
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63 | (24) |
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1 Galton's "A Theory of Heredity" and "Natural Inheritance" |
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64 | (3) |
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2 Weismann's Theory of "Continuity of the Germ-Plasm" |
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67 | (4) |
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3 de Vries "Intracellular Pangenesis" and "The Mutation Theory" |
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71 | (6) |
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4 Brooks "The Law of Heredity" |
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77 | (1) |
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5 Ross's Graft Theory of Diseases |
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78 | (2) |
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6 Perigenesis, Symbiogenesis and Other Theories |
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80 | (1) |
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7 A Comparison Between Darwin's Pangenesis and Other Theories |
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81 | (6) |
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82 | (5) |
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4 In Search of Darwin's Imaginary Gemmules |
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87 | (28) |
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1 The Term "Gene" Evolved From Darwin's "Gemmule" |
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88 | (3) |
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2 Morgan's Theory of the Gene and McClintock's Jumping Genes |
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91 | (5) |
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3 The Discovery of Circulating Nucleic Acids |
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96 | (7) |
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4 The Discovery of Prions |
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103 | (2) |
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5 The Discovery of Extracellular Vesicles |
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105 | (10) |
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108 | (7) |
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5 Darwin's Pangenesis and the Lamarckian Inheritance of Acquired Characters |
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115 | (23) |
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1 Darwin's Belief in the Inheritance of Acquired Characters |
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116 | (2) |
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2 Growing Evidence for the Inheritance of Acquired Characters |
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118 | (12) |
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3 Darwin's Pangenesis and Environmentally Induced DNA Changes |
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130 | (2) |
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4 Darwin's Pangenesis and RNA-Mediated Inheritance |
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132 | (3) |
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5 Darwin's Pangenesis and Horizontal Gene Transfer |
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135 | (3) |
| References |
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138 | |
Professor Kumar has considerable previous experience in writing and editing books and journals related to genetics and genomics. His books include Genomics and Clinical Medicine and Genomics and Health in the Developing World. He founded and leads the new open access journal Applied and Translational Genomics, published by Elsevier. He has published 40 articles in the journals literature. Professor Dhavendra Kumar is a Visiting Professor, Genomic Policy Unit, Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, The University of South Wales and Consultant in Clinical Genetics at the University Hospital of Wales, Institute of Medical Genetics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom. He is one of the Consultants for the All Wales Medical Genetics Service and the lead Clinician for Clinical Cardiovascular Genetics. After qualifying in Medicine from the King Georges Medical College, University of Lucknow, India, he completed postgraduate training in Pediatrics with an MD. Since 1980 he has pursued a career in Medical Genetics in the UK. In 1990 he became a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Genetics. He is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics (FACMG) and as well as Royal Colleges of Physicians (FRCP-London and FRCP-Ireland) and Pediatrics and Child Health (FRCPCH-UK).
In 2015, he was conferred with the higher degree of DSc by his Alma Mater, King Georges Medical University, Lucknow (UP, India) based on his life-time contributions and achievements to genetic and genomic applications in medicine and health.
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