Darwin in the Genome
Those who do not believe that we have evolved from life forms that are invisible to the naked eye -- and even those who do -- find it hard to conceive of how this journey could have succeeded, relying only on random mutation and survival of the “fittest”. It seems almost inconceivable that there has been enough time for mere molecules to organize themselves into a being that could compose music, travel to the moon and back, and indeed analyze its own genome.
It has been well over a century since Darwin and Wallace first proposed that from among natural variation in a population, the “most fit” individuals would tend to survive in greater numbers, passing their selected variations on to their progeny. But when Darwin and Wallace proposed that evolution happens through variation and then selection, they did not know the mechanism by which the varied traits were inherited. Science at that time was still was about a century away from uncovering the chemistry of heredity.
What has made evolution so hard for many to accept is this assumption that it depends upon random mutation for the generation of new variation. Momentarily sloppy, the gene-copying mechanism drops something, messes up, passing on a mistake to a probably-unfortunate member of the next generation. Rarely, through great luck, the change might turn out to be for the better; with those rare lucky accidents, the random mistake makes a fitter child (or fawn or tadpole or sprout or bacterium), favored by natural selection.
That variation comes from random mutation of DNA was not, of course, Darwin’s proposal. When our current understanding was developed there was a lot we did not know about genomes. In this book I will propose that it is time to incorporate our new discoveries into our understanding of evolution.
The work described in this book leads to the conclusion that Natural Selection works not just on each individual mutation itself, but also on the very mechanisms that generate genetic variation -- as it does on all biological functions. The research described in this book finds that mutations are not all “accidents” and that mutations are not always “random”. This book explains how genomes become more efficient at adapting and evolving over time.
These discoveries do not refute the theory of Natural Selection of Darwin and Wallace, but instead provide a deeper understanding of how Natural Selection leads to organisms that are better adapted to their world. Natural selection acts on all biological properties. That means that natural selection acts not only on fins and wings, but also on mechanisms that change a genome.
A genome can’t predict what will happen to the next generation; nor can you or I. But genomes have faced some challenges over and over again, such as in host/pathogen battles, and this has left its mark on the genome. A genome evolves a “world view” of which types of changes, under what types of circumstances, may yield a new function and are less likely to destroy something essential.
Further, our knowledge of genomes demonstrates the profound connections among all of us, indeed among life on earth. Each of us is, in a way, an experiment, and an example of the life-preserving, creative diversity expressed at our moment in time by the human genome. Indeed, we share with each other, no less than with the majesty of the Redwoods and the doves, the fact that each of us is a unique creation of the barely-tapped potential immanent in the first genomes on earth.
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It has been well over a century since Darwin and Wallace first proposed that from among natural variation in a population, the “most fit” individuals would tend to survive in greater numbers, passing their selected variations on to their progeny. But when Darwin and Wallace proposed that evolution happens through variation and then selection, they did not know the mechanism by which the varied traits were inherited. Science at that time was still was about a century away from uncovering the chemistry of heredity.
What has made evolution so hard for many to accept is this assumption that it depends upon random mutation for the generation of new variation. Momentarily sloppy, the gene-copying mechanism drops something, messes up, passing on a mistake to a probably-unfortunate member of the next generation. Rarely, through great luck, the change might turn out to be for the better; with those rare lucky accidents, the random mistake makes a fitter child (or fawn or tadpole or sprout or bacterium), favored by natural selection.
That variation comes from random mutation of DNA was not, of course, Darwin’s proposal. When our current understanding was developed there was a lot we did not know about genomes. In this book I will propose that it is time to incorporate our new discoveries into our understanding of evolution.
The work described in this book leads to the conclusion that Natural Selection works not just on each individual mutation itself, but also on the very mechanisms that generate genetic variation -- as it does on all biological functions. The research described in this book finds that mutations are not all “accidents” and that mutations are not always “random”. This book explains how genomes become more efficient at adapting and evolving over time.
These discoveries do not refute the theory of Natural Selection of Darwin and Wallace, but instead provide a deeper understanding of how Natural Selection leads to organisms that are better adapted to their world. Natural selection acts on all biological properties. That means that natural selection acts not only on fins and wings, but also on mechanisms that change a genome.
A genome can’t predict what will happen to the next generation; nor can you or I. But genomes have faced some challenges over and over again, such as in host/pathogen battles, and this has left its mark on the genome. A genome evolves a “world view” of which types of changes, under what types of circumstances, may yield a new function and are less likely to destroy something essential.
Further, our knowledge of genomes demonstrates the profound connections among all of us, indeed among life on earth. Each of us is, in a way, an experiment, and an example of the life-preserving, creative diversity expressed at our moment in time by the human genome. Indeed, we share with each other, no less than with the majesty of the Redwoods and the doves, the fact that each of us is a unique creation of the barely-tapped potential immanent in the first genomes on earth.
Darwin in the Genome
Those who do not believe that we have evolved from life forms that are invisible to the naked eye -- and even those who do -- find it hard to conceive of how this journey could have succeeded, relying only on random mutation and survival of the “fittest”. It seems almost inconceivable that there has been enough time for mere molecules to organize themselves into a being that could compose music, travel to the moon and back, and indeed analyze its own genome.
It has been well over a century since Darwin and Wallace first proposed that from among natural variation in a population, the “most fit” individuals would tend to survive in greater numbers, passing their selected variations on to their progeny. But when Darwin and Wallace proposed that evolution happens through variation and then selection, they did not know the mechanism by which the varied traits were inherited. Science at that time was still was about a century away from uncovering the chemistry of heredity.
What has made evolution so hard for many to accept is this assumption that it depends upon random mutation for the generation of new variation. Momentarily sloppy, the gene-copying mechanism drops something, messes up, passing on a mistake to a probably-unfortunate member of the next generation. Rarely, through great luck, the change might turn out to be for the better; with those rare lucky accidents, the random mistake makes a fitter child (or fawn or tadpole or sprout or bacterium), favored by natural selection.
That variation comes from random mutation of DNA was not, of course, Darwin’s proposal. When our current understanding was developed there was a lot we did not know about genomes. In this book I will propose that it is time to incorporate our new discoveries into our understanding of evolution.
The work described in this book leads to the conclusion that Natural Selection works not just on each individual mutation itself, but also on the very mechanisms that generate genetic variation -- as it does on all biological functions. The research described in this book finds that mutations are not all “accidents” and that mutations are not always “random”. This book explains how genomes become more efficient at adapting and evolving over time.
These discoveries do not refute the theory of Natural Selection of Darwin and Wallace, but instead provide a deeper understanding of how Natural Selection leads to organisms that are better adapted to their world. Natural selection acts on all biological properties. That means that natural selection acts not only on fins and wings, but also on mechanisms that change a genome.
A genome can’t predict what will happen to the next generation; nor can you or I. But genomes have faced some challenges over and over again, such as in host/pathogen battles, and this has left its mark on the genome. A genome evolves a “world view” of which types of changes, under what types of circumstances, may yield a new function and are less likely to destroy something essential.
Further, our knowledge of genomes demonstrates the profound connections among all of us, indeed among life on earth. Each of us is, in a way, an experiment, and an example of the life-preserving, creative diversity expressed at our moment in time by the human genome. Indeed, we share with each other, no less than with the majesty of the Redwoods and the doves, the fact that each of us is a unique creation of the barely-tapped potential immanent in the first genomes on earth.
It has been well over a century since Darwin and Wallace first proposed that from among natural variation in a population, the “most fit” individuals would tend to survive in greater numbers, passing their selected variations on to their progeny. But when Darwin and Wallace proposed that evolution happens through variation and then selection, they did not know the mechanism by which the varied traits were inherited. Science at that time was still was about a century away from uncovering the chemistry of heredity.
What has made evolution so hard for many to accept is this assumption that it depends upon random mutation for the generation of new variation. Momentarily sloppy, the gene-copying mechanism drops something, messes up, passing on a mistake to a probably-unfortunate member of the next generation. Rarely, through great luck, the change might turn out to be for the better; with those rare lucky accidents, the random mistake makes a fitter child (or fawn or tadpole or sprout or bacterium), favored by natural selection.
That variation comes from random mutation of DNA was not, of course, Darwin’s proposal. When our current understanding was developed there was a lot we did not know about genomes. In this book I will propose that it is time to incorporate our new discoveries into our understanding of evolution.
The work described in this book leads to the conclusion that Natural Selection works not just on each individual mutation itself, but also on the very mechanisms that generate genetic variation -- as it does on all biological functions. The research described in this book finds that mutations are not all “accidents” and that mutations are not always “random”. This book explains how genomes become more efficient at adapting and evolving over time.
These discoveries do not refute the theory of Natural Selection of Darwin and Wallace, but instead provide a deeper understanding of how Natural Selection leads to organisms that are better adapted to their world. Natural selection acts on all biological properties. That means that natural selection acts not only on fins and wings, but also on mechanisms that change a genome.
A genome can’t predict what will happen to the next generation; nor can you or I. But genomes have faced some challenges over and over again, such as in host/pathogen battles, and this has left its mark on the genome. A genome evolves a “world view” of which types of changes, under what types of circumstances, may yield a new function and are less likely to destroy something essential.
Further, our knowledge of genomes demonstrates the profound connections among all of us, indeed among life on earth. Each of us is, in a way, an experiment, and an example of the life-preserving, creative diversity expressed at our moment in time by the human genome. Indeed, we share with each other, no less than with the majesty of the Redwoods and the doves, the fact that each of us is a unique creation of the barely-tapped potential immanent in the first genomes on earth.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940012402516 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Lynn Caporale |
| Publication date: | 03/28/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 246 |
| File size: | 441 KB |
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