Introducing Students to the Genome: Brave New World or the Red Queen's Wonderland?

Abstract

Editorial| April 01 2017 Introducing Students to the Genome: Brave New World or the Red Queen's Wonderland? Charles G. Wray Charles G. Wray Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The American Biology Teacher (2017) 79 (4): 253. https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2017.79.4.253 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Charles G. Wray; Introducing Students to the Genome: Brave New World or the Red Queen's Wonderland?. The American Biology Teacher 1 April 2017; 79 (4): 253. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2017.79.4.253 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search Revolutions in science are rare but as with change in any field, they represent times of challenge, excitement, possibility, and even responsibility. We are firmly in a genomic revolution, and just as biology is changing, so too must our educational integration of this new knowledge. Mendelian principles have been firmly established for nearly one hundred years, but our understanding of genetic diversity has only just come into focus. In the 1950s, Hermann Muller defended the position that most humans were genetically homozygous and wild-type, while Theodosius Dobzhansky argued that heterozygosity, or allelic diversity, was the common state in sexually reproducing animals. A decade later, Harry Harris and Richard Lewontin, using starch gel electrophoresis on samples from humans and fruit flies, uncovered significant levels of protein diversity as convincing evidence demonstrating high levels of underlying genetic diversity, thus supporting Dobzhansky's earlier view. Most of the genetics pioneers would be astounded by... You do not currently have access to this content.