This year is the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'. In this seminal work, Darwin collected his thoughts on what became the most important concept in biology - evolution. In celebration of Darwin 200, NPG journals have commissioned and collected content showcasing how Darwin's seminal work and ideas have enriched and transformed diverse disciplines.
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Nature -
Nature Cell Biology- Editorial: Darwin's legacy
doi:10.1038/ncb0209
The double anniversary of Darwin's bicentenary and 150 years since publication of On the The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection provides the perfect pretext to enhance the public understanding of evolution.
- Editorial: Darwin's legacy
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Nature Geoscience- Editorial: Big, old and complicated
doi:10.1038/ngeo654
Earth scientists learn to approach scientific questions from a unique perspective - one that Charles Darwin shared. - Commentary: Man, myth, geologist
Mott T. Greene
doi:10.1038/ngeo646
Charles Darwin became the founder and mythic hero of modern evolutionary biology with the publication of his work On the Origin of Species 150 years ago. The book bears the signature of a geological thinker who had turned to a faster-moving discipline. - Books and Arts: As Darwin wrote
doi:10.1038/ngeo648
Alicia Newton reviews Charles Darwin's Notebooks From the Voyage of the Beagle by Gordon Chancellor & John van Wyhe - Exhibition: Darwin on the rocks
Ninad Bondre
doi:10.1038/ngeo649
Darwin the Geologist may well be tucked away in a corner of the Sedgwick Museum in the University of Cambridge, but this exhibition packs quite the punch. - Editorial: Darwin's geology
doi:10.1038/ngeo436
The Charles Darwin bicentennial celebrates the man who recognized natural selection and changed the world's views on evolution. However, his contributions to geology should not be overlooked.
- Editorial: Big, old and complicated
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Nature Materials- Editorial: Putting evolution to good use
doi:10.1038/nmat2388
Even materials scientists have reason to celebrate the seminal insights of Charles Darwin on his bicentenary.
- Editorial: Putting evolution to good use
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Nature Physics- Focus: Darwin and physics
Darwin and physics? The relevance of Darwin's ideas in physics, the wider context of Darwin's legacy and the controversy that rumbles on are explored in a special collection of articles marking the anniversary of the theory of evolution.
- Focus: Darwin and physics
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Nature Reviews Genetics- Perspective: The future of evo-devo: model systems and evolutionary theory
Ralf J. Sommer
doi:10.1038/nrg2567
Comparisons between species are essential for evo-devo research, but are there benefits in focusing on organisms in which sophisticated analytical tools are available? The author of this Perspective discusses this question, and also proposes further integration of evo-devo with other areas of evolutionary research.
- Review: Fundamental concepts in genetics: Genetics and the understanding of selection
Laurence D. Hurst
doi:10.1038/nrg2506
Looking back over the relationship between natural selection and genetics highlights the important role of genetics in understanding the implications of Darwin's concept. Looking to the future, understanding the reach and role of selection also has profound implications for genetics.
- Perspective: The evolution of hierarchical gene regulatory networks
Douglas H. Erwin & Eric H. Davidson
doi:10.1038/nrg2499
Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) are hierarchically connected sub-circuits composed of genes and the cis-regulatory sequences on which they act. The authors propose that evolutionary alterations in morphology depend on the position in the GRN hierarchy at which regulatory change occurs.
- Perspective: The future of evo-devo: model systems and evolutionary theory
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Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology- Review: Evolution of biomolecular networks - lessons from metabolic and protein interactions
Takuji Yamada & Peer Bork doi:10.1038/nrm2787
The evolution of protein-protein interaction and metabolic networks is mostly based on the duplication and loss of entire genes or on point mutations, small insertions or deletions that affect gene regulation. However, network evolution can be understood only when spatiotemporal resolution is taken into account.
- Review: Structural and functional constraints in the evolution of protein families
Catherine L. Worth, Sungsam Gong & Tom L. Blundell doi:10.1038/nrm2762
Amino acid substitutions in divergent protein families reflect both Darwinian selection and neutral evolution. The latter operates within structural and functional constraints and arises from the need to conserve protein architecture and interactions that are important for the survival of the organism.
- Review: Evolution of biomolecular networks - lessons from metabolic and protein interactions
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Nature Reviews Neuroscience- Focus: CNS evolution
With support from the Wellcome Trust.
Evolutionary biology seeks to reconstruct the ancestral relationship among organisms and the pathways that led to the enormous variety of biological forms. This focus issue of Nature Reviews Neuroscience celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the publication of On the Origin of Species 150 years ago. The articles in this special issue discuss the molecular, cellular and structural changes that have contributed to CNS evolution and the functional consequences of these changes.
- Focus: CNS evolution
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Nature Structural and Molecular Biology- Editorial: Evolving the discussion
doi:10.1038/nsmb0109-1
As we enter 2009 and celebrate the anniversaries associated with the birth of Darwin and publication of The Origin of Species, it's worth asking why there isn't greater public awareness of the increasing molecular evidence relevant to evolution and what can be done to address this.
- Editorial: Evolving the discussion
