Homology

'Homology' as a concept became increasingly elusive during thecourse of the 20th century. The central debates and controversiesconcern both fundamental definitions and the nature of the criteriaby which homology is judged. Attempts to move away from comparativemorphology to ideas based on developmental pathways have tended tofounder on the fact that developmental pathways evolve and thatsimilar cells or tissues or structures in animals will often havedifferent developmental origins. The use of information aboutconserved molecules in seemingly conserved developmental processeshas also proven controversial.
In molecular biology, the use of the term 'homology' has givenrise to more debate, although here the issue seems to involveprimarily the criteria for assessing whether parts of genes are thesame because of shared descent or for other reasons. Thecontributions to the book explore these topics systematically.There are chapters on the historical development of the concept ofhomology and its use in population studies. Other chapters dealwith issues of homology in morphological and developmental studies,in behavioural studies, and especially in studies at the level ofmolecular genetics.