Q.What is the Modern Synthetic Theory of evolution? Name the branches of biology whose findings it brings together with Darwin's original theory of natural selection.

The Modern Synthesis (Sewall Wright, R.A. Fisher, Ernst Mayr, Julian Huxley, Theodosius Dobzhansky, G.G. Simpson, Ernst Haeckel) reconciles Darwinian natural selection with the discoveries of genetics, identifying five basic factors driving organic evolution: gene (point) mutation (a structural change within a gene, altering phenotype); chromosomal mutation (structural change to a chromosome via deletion, duplication, inversion or translocation, also altering phenotype); genetic recombination (new allele combinations from crossing-over during meiosis, generating heritable variation without new mutation); natural selection (which does not itself create variation but favours some variants over others, acting as evolution's driving force); and reproductive isolation (barriers preventing interbreeding, which lock in the genetic differences accumulating between diverging populations).