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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

ORGANISMS AS COMPLEXES. "It is evident that organisms are anatomically, physiologically, developmentally, genetically, and immunologically multigenomic and multispecies complexes." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this fragment on biological individuality. It is clear that an increasing number of life scientists believe that individuality is a mirage. We are already painfully aware that a scorched-earth policy with antibiotics is a failed concept, and that calling a large and diverse group of microorganisms 'germs' is becoming, slowly, a thing of the past. Already, the microbiome project is illuminating new drugs, not made of molecules, but of living things. We are embarking on a new age. View in LinkedIn

PLANT PATHOGEN IMMUNITY. "In plants, endophytes, the diverse and widespread fungi that live out most of their life cycle in plant tissue, provide enhanced pathogen immunity to their host; they can also ward off herbivores, among other benefits. Thus, immune systems are created, in part, by microbial symbionts." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

LIFE-VIEW. "We are all lichens." (Fungal plus algae hybrid creatures). https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

ANTIVIRAL SYSTEM. "This ability of symbionts to condition and promote the immune capacities of the holobiont is not exclusive to vertebrates. In several insect species, bacteria of the genus Wolbachia appear to play an important role in antiviral protection." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

NEWTHINK. "For animals, as well as plants, there have never been individuals." Contemplate this carefully. https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

INTERSPECIES MERGERS. "Animals can no longer be considered individuals in any sense of classical biology: anatomical, developmental, physiological, immunological, genetic, or evolutionary. Our bodies must be understood as holobionts whose anatomical, physiological, immunological, and developmental functions evolved in shared relationships of different species." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

IMPACT ON ADAPTION. "Convergent evolution of gene expression via the insertion of transposable elements also suggests that such transposons can mediate adaptive evolution. The selective silencing of such transposons by DNA methylation or small interfering RNAs appears to be another policing mechanism that has facilitated evolution." https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn