Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book …

A viral quasispecies is a population structure of viruses with a large number of variant genomes (related by mutations). Quasispecies result from high mutation rates as mutants arise continually and change in relative frequency as viral replication and selection proceeds.. The theory predicts that a viral quasispecies at a low but evolutionarily neutral and highly connected (that is, flat ...

Paleogenomics is a field of science based on the reconstruction and analysis of genomic information in extinct species.Improved methods for the extraction of ancient DNA (aDNA) from museum artifacts, ice cores, archeological or paleontological sites, and next-generation sequencing technologies have spurred this field. It is now possible to detect genetic drift, …

Breeding back is a form of artificial selection by the deliberate selective breeding of domestic (but not exclusively) animals, in an attempt to achieve an animal breed with a phenotype that resembles a wild type ancestor, usually one that has gone extinct. Breeding back is not to be confused with dedomestication.. It must be kept in mind that a breeding-back breed may be …

Heritability is a statistic used in the fields of breeding and genetics that estimates the degree of variation in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation between individuals in that population. The concept of heritability can be expressed in the form of the following question: "What is the proportion of the variation in a given trait within a population that is not ...

Reciprocal cross in practice. Given that the trait of interest is either autosomal or sex-linked and follows by either complete dominance or incomplete dominance, a reciprocal cross following two generations will determine the mode of inheritance of the trait.. White-eye mutation in Drosophila melanogaster. Sex linkage was first reported by Doncaster and Raynor in 1906 who studied …

A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria; however, plasmids are sometimes present in archaea and eukaryotic organisms. In nature, plasmids often carry genes that …

Etymology. Dynastes hercules is known for its tremendous strength and is named after Hercules, a hero of classical mythology who is famed for his great strength.. Taxonomy. D. hercules has a complex taxonomic history and has been known by several synonyms. It is in the subfamily Dynastinae (rhinoceros beetles) in the larger family Scarabaeidae (commonly known as scarab …