Evolutionary Concept in Genetics and Genomics

Abstract

In times past, gathering information on a potential partner in marriage or business routinely started with the simplest question ``What family does he or she come from?'' Affiliation with a certain family immediately provided a starting point for further inquiries, a general idea of what might be expected from a certain individual. Of course, families are never uniform, and classic literature from Homer to Shakespeare to Tolstoy provides ample illustrations that any expectation based solely on family history should be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, absent other clues to the character of the subject in question, an educated guess could be made based on the family structure and the individual's position within that structure.