The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution

by Motoo Kimura

Motoo Kimura, as founder of the neutral theory, is uniquely placed to write this book. He first proposed the theory in 1968 to explain the unexpectedly high rate of evolutionary change and very large amount of intraspecific variability at the molecular level that had been uncovered by new techniques in molecular biology. The theory - which asserts that the great majority of evolutionary changes at the molecular level are caused not by Darwinian selection but by random drift of selectively neutral mutants - has caused controversy ever since. This book is the first comprehensive treatment of this subject and the author synthesises a wealth of material - ranging from a historical perspective, through recent molecular discoveries, to sophisticated mathematical arguments - all presented in a most lucid manner.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Evolution

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 1983

About the author

Motoo Kimura was a Japanese biologist best known for introducing the neutral theory of molecular evolution in 1968. He became one of the most influential theoretical population geneticists.

Reviews

[Pandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is way above my paygrade. Kimura assumes (or rather does not even consider) that you are a fully fledged biologist, and if you are not, don't expect to get anything more than a general gist. Further, you will need to be a pretty good mathematician. Because there is lots of it!
At least, usually, when we are talking about evolution, there are interesting real world examples, that give a casual reader something to relate to. But precious few of those here.
On the plus side it is nice to see that there really are 'theories' of evolution; plural. The debate is not evolution vs Christian science, thankfully. But about exactly how evolution occurs. Simple genetic mutation + natural selection is an astonishingly poor predictive model. The 'Neutral' theory of genetic evolution that Kimura argues for, suggests that variation and speciation can occur in the absence of strong selective pressures. He talks a lot about 'stabilizing' selection, which makes a lot of sense - where selection keeps an animal within a bandwidth of acceptable forms (e.g. humans survive quite well from 4feet to 7 feet tall).
But honestly, unless you are a qualified biologist and mathematician, best to hit the Wikipedia entry on Genetic Drift - which is already complicated enough.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, though highly technical, foray into molecular evolution. Kimura explains what he means by the neutral (and nearly neutral) theories of evolution and arrays the evidence in favor and against it. The book requires a good deal of familiarity with technical biological and mathematical formalism, but Kimura does a good job of explaining his ideas in simple, more understandable ways.

If you're interested in the neutral theory, then this is still a useful work to read as it goes into more detail than anywhere else I have looked. The only negative is that it is fairly old at this point, so you don't get to see the more extensive recent evidence.