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Evolutionary molecular medicine

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Abstract

Evolution has long provided a foundation for population genetics, but some major advances in evolutionary biology from the twentieth century that provide foundations for evolutionary medicine are only now being applied in molecular medicine. They include the need for both proximate and evolutionary explanations, kin selection, evolutionary models for cooperation, competition between alleles, co-evolution, and new strategies for tracing phylogenies and identifying signals of selection. Recent advances in genomics are transforming evolutionary biology in ways that create even more opportunities for progress at its interfaces with genetics, medicine, and public health. This article reviews 15 evolutionary principles and their applications in molecular medicine in hopes that readers will use them and related principles to speed the development of evolutionary molecular medicine.

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Notes

  1. Pathogens are shaped by selection, but they are not diseases themselves, they are causes of diseases. Some alleles that cause disease are selected for, e.g., sickle-cell hemoglobin (HbS). However, HbS is not a disease, it is an allele that causes disease when paired with another HbS allele.

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Acknowledgments

Warm thanks to Margit Burmeister, Bernard Crespi, Alan Rogers, Srijan Sen, an anonymous reviewer, and members of the Evolution and Human Adaptation Program Laboratory group at the University of Michigan for helpful comments that improved this manuscript. GSO acknowledges support from NIH grants U54DA021519, UL1 RR024986, RM-08-029, and U54ES017885.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Detrainments of Psychiatry and Psychology, The University of Michigan, 3018 East Hall, 530 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Randolph M. Nesse

  2. Charite-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin-Buch, Charite Platz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Detlev Ganten

  3. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

    T. Ryan Gregory

  4. Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2218, USA

    Gilbert S. Omenn

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Nesse, R.M., Ganten, D., Gregory, T.R. et al. Evolutionary molecular medicine. J Mol Med 90, 509–522 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-012-0889-9

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