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GENETIC CHIMERAS. "Every genome is a historical product and, just like the cell, it is the result of ancient symbioses and horizontal gene transfers. We are genomic chimeras: nearly 50% of the human genome consists of transposable DNA sequences acquired exogenously possibly by the horizontal gene transfer from microbial symbionts to animal cells." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

INSOURCING. "The origin of placental mammals may have been predicated on genomic-level integration of exogenous DNA." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

ADOPTED MULTICELLULARITY. "Certain species of choanoflagellates, the unicellular clade thought to be the sister group of multicellular animals, can be transformed into multicellular organisms by interactions with specific bacteria." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

"MULTICELLULARITY may also have been initiated by interactions between bacteria and protists." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

"SYMBIOSIS has been critically important in macroevolutionary innovation. eukaryotic cells are themselves the result of several symbioses." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

BOLTING ON. "Negotiated surveillance is a general mechanism that has evolved to permit the incorporation of potentially self-replicating parts into coherent wholes. We see this, as Lynn Margulis long predicted we would, in the main transitions in evolution." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

GROUP VALUES WIN. "Alleles can spread throughout a population because of the benefits they bestow on groups, irrespective of the alleles' effect on the fitness of individuals within that group." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

MOLECULAR BEHAVIOR. "We describe the initial realization of behavior in the biosphere, which we term behavioral chemistry. If molecules are complex enough to attain a stochastic element to their structural conformation in such as a way as to radically affect their function in a biological (evolvable) setting, then they have the capacity to behave." https://lnkd.in/ddnX_69 View in LinkedIn

HIGHER LEVEL SELECTION. "Can it be that organisms are selected as multigenomic associations? Is the fittest in life's struggle the multispecies group, and not an individual of a single species in that group?" https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

ORGANISMS AT THE EDGE OF LIFE is a favorite topic of mine, because they challenge our assumptions. These include the definitions of life itself, and of the species. If we are exploring the universe for other life forms, it seems that we must revise some quaint thinking on both topics. I also call this theme the Grey Zone. This is especially exemplified by viruses and mobile genetic elements. View in LinkedIn