| RefNo | EC/1986/39 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXII, 39 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Wilson, Allan Charles: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1985 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | He has carried out multi-disciplinary research on the evolution of animals, plants and microorganisms, using methods and concepts drawing together biochemistry, immunology, cytogenetics, anthropology and ethology. He introduced a quantitative immunological technique providing a fast and economical way of studying protein evolution. Together with amino-acid sequencing methods, these techniques made clear that proteins accumulate point mutations at steady rates, unrelated to rates of evolutionary change at higher levels of biological organisation. This led to new views on the time of origin of the human lineage, the genetic basis of evolutionary change and the accelerating effect of social learning in organismal evolution. His laboratory pioneered studies on (1) the unexpectedly high rate of evolution of mitochondrial DNA, (2) the concerted evolution of globin genes, (3) the coevolution of nuclear and mitochondrial gene products concerned with electron transport, (4) the molecular systematics of numerous groups of vertebrates, insects, plants and bacteria, (5) a re-appraisal of the antigenic structure of proteins, (6) the retrieval of genetic information from the traces of proteins and nucleic acids present in the remains of some extinct species. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8023 | Wilson; Allan Charles (1934 - 1991) | 1934 - 1991 |