Cells in Evolutionary Biology

This book summarizes the ways evolutionary theory has influenced the development of cell biology. Chapters explore Darwin’s use of cells in his theory of evolution. Weismann’s contrarian germ plasm theory will be assessed from several perspectives. The discovery of genes and the rise of genetics, the use of embryos for the identification of cell lineages, evidence of cytoplasmic inheritance in protozoans, and investigations of divergent nuclear control in prokaryotes and in eukaryotes provided new potential synergies between cell biology and evolutionary theory. The identification of cellular condensations as the modular basis of embryonic development returned cells to centre stage.