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Artificial selection

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	Topics Artificial selection Topic Home Artificial selection is the intentional breeding for certain traits, or combinations of traits, over others, and is synonymous with "Selective breedingSelective breeding Selective breeding in domesticated animals is the process of developing a cultivated breed over time.... ". It was originally defined by Charles DarwinCharles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist who achieved lasting fame by producing considerable evidence that species o... in contrast to the process of natural selectionNatural selection Natural selection is the process by which individual organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduc... , in which the differential reproduction of organisms with certain traits is attributed to improved survival and/or reproductive ability ("Darwinian fitness") in the natural habitatHabitat (ecology) Habitat is the place where a particular species lives and grows.... of the organism. Artificial selection that produces an undesirable outcome from a human perspective is sometimes called negative selection (but note that this term has a better-established meaning as a type of natural selection; see negative selectionNegative selection In biology, negative selection has two different definitions depending on if it is due to natural selection or artificial se... ). Artificial selection can also be unintentional; it is thought that domestication of crops by early humans was largely unintentional. Historical development Charles DarwinCharles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist who achieved lasting fame by producing considerable evidence that species o... coined the term as an illustration of his proposed wider process of natural selection. Darwin noted that many domesticated animals and plants had special properties that were developed by intentionally encouraging the breeding potential of individuals who both possessed desirable characteristics, and discouraging the breeding of individuals who had less desirable characteristics. Laboratory usage The deliberate exploitation of selective power has become common in experimental biology, particularly in microbiologyFacts About Microbiology Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms.... and geneticsGenetics Genetics is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms.... . In a ubiquitous laboratory technique in genetic engineeringGenetic engineering Genetic engineering, genetic modification and gene splicing are terms for the process of manipulating genes, us... , geneGene A gene is the unit of heredity in living organisms.... s are introduced into cellsFacts About Cell (biology) The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms, and is sometimes called the "building block of life.... in cell cultureCell culture Cell culture is the process by which either prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells are grown under controlled conditions.... , usually bacteriaBacteria Bacteria are a major group of living organisms.... , on a small circular DNADNA Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the biological development of a cellu... molecule called a plasmidPlasmid A plasmid is a DNA molecule separate from the chromosomal DNA and capable of autonomous replication.... in a process called transfectionTransfection Transfection is the introduction of DNA into eukaryotic cells, such as animal cells.... . The gene of interest is accompanied on the plasmid by a reporter geneFacts About Reporter gene In molecular biology, a reporter gene is a gene that researchers attach to another gene of interest in cell culture, animals... , or "selectable marker", which encodes a specific trait such as antibiotic resistanceAntibiotic resistance Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of an antibiotic.... or ability to grow in high salt concentrations. The cells can then be cultured in an environment that would kill normal cells, but is hospitable to those that have taken up and expressedFacts About Gene expression Gene expression, or simply expression, is the process by which a gene's DNA sequence is converted into the structures ... the genes on the plasmid. In this way expression of the reporter gene serves as a signal that the gene of interest is also being expressed in the cells. Another technique used in drug developmentDrug development Drug Development or Preclinical Development is defined in many pharmaceutical companies as the process of taking a new... uses an iterative selective process called in vitro selectionSystematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment SELEX , also referred to as in vitro selection or in vitro evolution, is a combinatorial technique in molecular biol... to evolve aptamerAptamer Aptamers are oligonucleic acid or peptide molecules selected from a large random sequence pool to bind to specific target mo... s, or nucleic acidNucleic acid A nucleic acid is a complex, high-molecular-weight biochemical macromolecule composed of nucleotide chains that convey genet... fragments capable of binding specific organic compoundOrganic compound An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon and hydrogen; theref... s with high binding affinity. Studies in evolutionary physiologyEvolutionary physiology Evolutionary physiology is the study of physiological evolution, which is to say, the manner in which the functional c... , behavioral genetics, and other areas of organismal biology have also made use of deliberate artificial selection, though longer generation times and greater difficulty in breeding can make such projects challenging in vertebrates. Online experiments in artificial selection (firefox only) Related Topics Plant breedingPlant breeding Plant breeding is the purposeful manipulation of plant species in order to create desired genotypes and phenotypes for speci... Experimental evolutionExperimental evolution In evolutionary biology, the field of experimental evolution is concerned with testing the theory of evolution in controlled... Gene poolGene pool The gene pool of a species or a population is the complete set of unique alleles that would be found by inspecting the genet... Genetic engineeringGenetic engineering Genetic engineering, genetic modification and gene splicing are terms for the process of manipulating genes, us... InbreedingInbreeding Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal.... Marker assisted selectionFacts About Marker Assisted Selection Sorry, no overview for this topic Quantitative geneticsQuantitative genetics Quantitative genetics is the study of continuous traits and its underlying mechanisms.... Selective breedingSelective breeding Selective breeding in domesticated animals is the process of developing a cultivated breed over time.... Smart breedingSmart breeding Smart breeding refers to an organic farming technique of reproducing a species members together to retain desirable traits a...