Contents: Evolution’s Clinical Guidebook: Translating Ancient Genes Into Precision Medicine

In yesterday's blog, I announced the publication of my book, Evolution’s Clinical Guidebook: Translating Ancient Genes Into Precision Medicine. The premise of this book is that modern medicine is based on an understanding of evolutionary processes. Basically, without evolution, the fledgling field of precision medicine would wither and die, and we would lose our opportunity to prevent, diagnose, and treat the diseases that account for the bulk of morbidity and mortality in humans and in animals.

This book is available from Amazon or from the publisher's website. If you are fortunate enough to have full institutional access to ScienceDirect, you can download chapters at no cost. Here is the Table of Contents.

Contents: Evolution’s Clinical Guidebook: Translating Ancient Genes into Precision Medicine

1. Evolution, From the Beginning 1

Section 1.1 In the Beginning 1
Section 1.2 Bootstrapping Paradoxes 5
Section 1.3 Our Genes, for the Most Part, 
Come From Ancestral Species 12
Section 1.4 How do Metabolic Pathways Evolve? 15
Section 1.5 Cambrian Explosion 21
Section 1.6 After the Cambrian: Coexistence 
and Coevolution 25
Glossary 29
References 44

2. Shaking Up the Genome 51
Section 2.1 Mutation Burden 51
Section 2.2 Gene Pools and Gene Conservation 58
Section 2.3 Recombination and Other 
Genetic Tricks 61
Section 2.4 Genomic Architecture: 
An Evolutionary Free-for-All 64
Section 2.5 Rummaging Through the DNA Junkyard 73
Glossary 77
References 87

3. Evolution and Embryonic Development 93
Section 3.1 The Tight Relationship Between 
Evolution and Embryology 93
Section 3.2 The Epigenome and the Evolution 
of Cell Types 103
Section 3.3 An Embryonic Detour for 
Human Diseases 115
Section 3.4 The Borderland of Embryology 
and Cancer 118
Section 3.5 Pathologic Conditions of the 
Genomic Regulatory Systems 121
Glossary 125
References 138

4. Speciation 145
Section 4.1 A Species is a Biological Entity 145
Section 4.2 The Biological Process of Speciation 147
Section 4.3 The Diversity of Living Organisms 152
Section 4.4 The Species Paradox 157
Section 4.5 Viruses and the Meaning of Life 159
Glossary 164
References 168

5. Phylogeny: Eukaryotes to Chordates 173
Section 5.1 On Classification 173
Section 5.2 The Complete Human 
Phylogenetic Lineage 177
Section 5.3 Eukaryotes to Obazoans 179
Section 5.4 Opisthokonts to Parahoxozoa 185
Section 5.5 Bilaterians to Chordates 193
Glossary 198
References 203

6. Phylogeny: Craniates to Humans 207
Section 6.1 Class Craniata and the Ascent 
of the Neural Crest 207
Section 6.2 Vertebrates to Synapsids 212
Section 6.3 Mammals to Therians 220
Section 6.4 Eutherians to Humans 226
Glossary 233
References 235

7. Trapped by Evolution 239
Section 7.1 Spandrels, Pendentives, Corbels, 
and Squinches 239
Section 7.2 Evolving Backwards 240
Section 7.3 Eugenics: Proceed With Caution 247
Section 7.4 The Evolution of Aging, 
and the Diseases Thereof 252
Section 7.5 Why Good People Get Bad Diseases 265
Glossary 270
References 277

8. Animal Models of Human Disease: Opportunities 
and Limitations 285
Section 8.1 The Animal Model Problem, in a 
Nutshell 285
Section 8.2 Specificities and Idiosyncrasies 286
Section 8.3 New Animal Options 294
Section 8.4 The Proper Study of Mankind 300
Glossary 301
References 302

9. Medical Proof of Evolution 307
Section 9.1 What Does Proof Mean, 
in the Biological Sciences? 307
Section 9.2 The Differences Between Designed 
Organisms and Evolved Organisms 309
Section 9.3 What if Evolution Were Just 
a Foolish Fantasy 316
Glossary 325
References 326
Index 329

Jules Berman

key words: evolution, precision medicine, genetics, rare disease, clinical genetics, bioinformatics, evo-devo, Jules J. Berman, Ph.D., M.D.