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THIS NEW SECTION is a treatment of an extraordinarily important paper on biological dark matter and an emerging new paradigm in biology. I will cite extensively from this paper on biological dark matter by RJ Robbins, L Krishtalka, and JC Wooley. It is a suitable companion to the previous paper on horizontal gene transfer. https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

THIS ENDS this important paper that repositions the evolution of prokaryotes versus eukaryotes in the light of promiscuous gene transfer. The biological world view was overly vertebrate-centric, and generalized nature from this perspective. In fact, vertebrates are a very minor group compared to the microbial world. This important contribution has adjusted that view accordingly. When combined with the curious mechanisms from the plant world, we have a less pear-shaped view of the natural world. View in LinkedIn

ADDING NOT REPLACING “Although we have presented the new view as if it were antithetical to traditional understandings of prokaryotic evolution, in the long run we endorse a synthesis that will acknowledge gene exchange and clonality, weblike and treelike behavior, and adaptation and the evolution of new function by many modes.” https://lnkd.in/djKBnru View in LinkedIn

THE PROKARYOTIC WORLD. “Embracing gene transfer promises a broad and radical revision of the prokaryotic evolutionary paradigm. This will come from a fusion of population genetics, molecular genetics, epidemiological and environmental genomics, microbial ecology, and molecular phylogeny, fields that have developed mostly in isolation from each other.” https://lnkd.in/djKBnru View in LinkedIn

Common human skin bacteria could protect against cancer, say researchers View in LinkedIn

TWO UNIVERSES. “We could resolve the “species problem” (perhaps by dismissing it), appreciate the real differences in tempo and mode between prokaryote and “higher” eukaryote evolution, let unraveling of the complex histories of genes and genomes supersede the quest for one true “organismal phylogeny,” develop new models for diversification of prokaryotic niches and definitions of adaptedness, and, at the level of the gene, propose new scenarios for evolution of novel function.” https://lnkd.in/djKBnru View in LinkedIn

THE UNCULTURED MASSES. “In 2003, Schloss and Handelsman offered the term “metagenomics” to describe “the genomic analysis of uncultured microorganisms.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

OLD HAT. “Traditional models for prokaryotic evolution based on clonality and periodic selection are inadequate to describe the process of prokaryotic evolution at the species level and that treelike phylogenies are inadequate to represent the pattern of prokaryotic evolution at any level.” https://lnkd.in/djKBnru View in LinkedIn

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. “Short-term studies often find dramatic and rapid rates of phenotypic change, whereas long-term studies seem to manifest much slower rates of change.” https://lnkd.in/dAmAVYa View in LinkedIn

RAPID EVOLUTION EXAMPLES. “Colour patterns and life-history traits in guppies introduced to new predator environments, work on life-history traits in mosquitofish introduced to Hawaii, and work on phenotypic traits in rabbits introduced to New Zealand.” https://lnkd.in/dAmAVYa View in LinkedIn