Genes and species

Abstract

Sáez, A. G. Genes and species. (2009). Ecosistemas 18(1):3-9.

Our increasing access to the identification and manipulation of genes keeps paving the way to our understanding of species and speciation. In my view, following two different threads in recent times: On the one hand, DNA barcoding - a systematic, molecular and complementary approach to species identification - is revealing a great deal of biodiversity, much of it previously unsuspected and morphologically cryptic. Secondly, a functional view of how genes shape microevolutionary changes is emphasizing the role of natural selection in the formation and evolution of species, even in the face of abundant gene flow.