Article ID: CBB001022394

Waiting for Sequences: Morris Goodman, Immunodiffusion Experiments, and the Origins of Molecular Anthropology (2010)

unapi

During the early 1960s, Morris Goodman used a variety of immunological tests to demonstrate the very close genetic relationships among humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas. Molecular anthropologists often point to this early research as a critical step in establishing their new specialty. Based on his molecular results, Goodman challenged the widely accepted taxonomic classification that separated humans from chimpanzees and gorillas in two separate families. His claim that chimpanzees and gorillas should join humans in family Hominidae sparked a well-known conflict with George Gaylord Simpson, Ernst Mayr, and other prominent evolutionary biologists. Less well known, but equally significant, were a series of disagreements between Goodman and other prominent molecular evolutionists concerning both methodological and theoretical issues. These included qualitative versus quantitative data, the role of natural selection, rates of evolution, and the reality of molecular clocks. These controversies continued throughout Goodman's career, even as he moved from immunological techniques to protein and DNA sequence analysis. This episode highlights the diversity of methods used by molecular evolutionists and the conflicting conclusions drawn from the data that these methods generated.

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Authors & Contributors
Fabrizio Rufo
Cozzoli, Daniele
Wilson, Emily K.
Wilkins, Maurice
Weissman, Charlotte
Wagner, Günter P.
Concepts
Molecular biology
Microbiology
Primates
Biology
DNA; RNA
Molecular evolution
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
18th century
Renaissance
Places
United States
Netherlands
Institutions
McCollum-Pratt Institute
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.)
Carnegie Institution of Washington
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