Month: September 2022

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

“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

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

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

TRADITIONAL VIEW: “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

TRADITIONAL SYNTHESIS. “To do this, all of the cells must cooperate with each other in a highly controlled and regulated manner, in turn requiring an extremely stable, shared and identical (nearly) genome. Ultimately, in multi-cellular eukaryotes all somatic cells live or die together as a single individual entity. In the modern synthesis, the differential survival of somatic-cell individuals and their genetically identical germ-line payloads is the driving mechanism of evolution.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

CLASSICAL INDIVIDUALISM. “Given the centrality of “the individual” to multi-cellular eukaryotes thinking, it is not surprising that much of classical biology is dedicated to studying the attributes and behavior of aggregations of somatic cells, i.e., individual organisms.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

ANTITHESIS OF TRADITIONALITY. “Prokaryotes, with their non-mechanical relationship to the environment, their non-reproductive gene acquisition (horizontal gene transfer), their lack of enforced stability of genomic content, and their lack of differentiated somatic tissue, are the antithesis of multi-cellular eukaryotes organismal individuality.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

PROKARYOTIC FREEDOMS. “Of course prokaryotes can, and do, exhibit individuality on the cellular level. But, critically, an individual prokaryotic cell is free from the requirement of maintaining genomic identity with neighboring cells and needs only to maintain its basic viability long enough to carry out basic physiological functions, transfer or acquire genes, replicate its genome, and divide.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn