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TRADITIONAL VIEW: “ a multi-cellular eukaryote individual was seen as a physically coherent aggregation of cells, all clonally derived from a single cell and all receiving its DNA only from its immediate ancestor(s). The cells of these individuals undergo differentiation into germ-line cells (ultimately gametes) and somatic cells—a “body” of tissues and organs to protect and nurture the germ line, at least until reproduction.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

THE MEASURE OF BIODIVERSITY. “Incommensurate species concepts do matter, because (a) biodiversity is a field that depends on the ability to compare and integrate biodiversity data across myriad systems—indeed, across the entire biosphere, and (b) species are the currency with which biodiversity is measured.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

TRADITIONAL VIEW: “ a multi-cellular eukaryote individual was seen as a physically coherent aggregation of cells, all clonally derived from a single cell and all receiving its DNA only from its immediate ancestor(s). " "“ https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

TRADITIONAL VIEW: “ a multi-cellular eukaryote individual was seen as a physically coherent aggregation of cells, all clonally derived from a single cell and all receiving its DNA only from its immediate ancestor(s). The cells of these individuals undergo differentiation into germ-line cells (ultimately gametes) and somatic cells—a “body” of tissues and organs to protect and nurture the germ line, at least until reproduction.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

“CLASSICAL BIOLOGY is anchored by the concept of the individual organism. In traditional thinking about evolution, biodiversity, and ecosystems, the concept of “individual organism” occupies a position as fundamental as “gene” was to classical genetics.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

NEW WORLD. “Simply put, there is nothing in the prokaryotic realm that corresponds unambiguously to the classical ideas of individual or species.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

NEW INDIVIDUAL THINKING. “Similarly, neither can the multi-cellular eukaryotes notion of an “individual” be applied straightforwardly to prokaryotes. Efforts to squeeze prokaryotes into these multi-cellular eukaryotes notions will produce results that are either metaphorical or misleading or wrong.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

NEW SPECIES THINKING. “The upshot is that the multi-cellular eukaryote “species-as-lineage”—or any phylogeny-based species concept—cannot be applied to prokaryotes because they lack discrete, whole-genome lineages.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

SOURCE OF GRIST. Horizontal gene transfer has been providing the bulk of prokaryotic genetic novelty over time. https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

NOT ABOUT REPRODUCTION. Genes in the prokaryotic world have little to do with reproduction. They are shared liberally by horizontal gene transfers across species. In the eukaryotic world they are exclusively related to reproduction through vertical mendelian inheritance. https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn