Month: September 2022

GENE SOUP. “Consequently, prokaryotes, unlike multi-cellular eukaryotes, have the great advantage of being able to acquire or discard genes for almost any non-critical function without the penalty of adversely affecting somatic development or regulation. Essentially, a prokaryote functions as one cell interacting physiologically with its environment, and with genetic content that can vary independently of reproduction.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

NEW INDIVIDUALITY THINKING. “More profoundly, new research on microbiomes (microbial communities that are physically engaged with multicellular organisms) are forcing a re-evaluation of the notion of individuality, even among multi-cellular eukaryotes.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

HOST MICROBIOMES. “It has long been known that every multi-cellular eukaryotes individual carries huge numbers of microbes on every available surface, in every orifice, and sometimes endosymbiotically within cells. Recent studies have demonstrated that these associated microbiomes often play essential roles in the normal physiology and function of the host, contributing positively to the host’s fitness and affecting how it interacts with its environment.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

THE HOLOBIONT. “If associated microbiomes affect the fitness of the multi-cellular eukaryote host, then even among multi-cellular eukaryotes the primary unit of evolutionary survival and ecological function is not Simpson’s “objectively real” individual, but rather the holobiont—the composite of one multi-cellular eukaryote organism and its associated microbiome communities.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

HYBRID ORGANISMS. “Some have asserted the conceptual demise of the individual with the suggestion that, “We are all lichens now”.” (Lichens are part algae, part fungus). https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

VANISHING INDIVIDUAL. “It is no longer possible to claim that individual organisms are objectively real, fundamental units in nature. Instead, we must now recognize that the classical concept of “individual” is, at best, a reductionist abstraction, in the way “assume a spherical cow” is useful in biophysics—it simplifies the analysis, but at some cost to a correspondence with reality.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

NO INDIVIDUAL, NO TREE. “As fundamental units of evolution, individual organisms are held to be evolutionarily related within species and higher clades that, in turn, compose a single-rooted tree of life. But genomics, particularly the metagenomics of biological dark matter, reveals these truths to be, again, useful approximations restricted to the multi-cellular eukaryote realm. In fact, just as there are no “completely objective” individuals, there is no one true tree of all of life on Earth.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

FALSE TREES. “Rampant horizontal gene flow among prokaryotes falsifies the tenet that the evolutionary history of all organisms—and their genes—can be reflected unambiguously by a single, tree-like pattern. It is important to remember that Pace’s universal tree is a tree of small subunit rRNA genes, not a tree of life.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE concludes this weekend on the anatomic drivers of the exquisitely nuanced human face. The human face is a derived mask, a derivative from our animal lineage, as shown by comparative anatomy. It has also derivative functions, from orifice control (eyes, nose, mouth). This patchwork of adaptations from other functions and other creatures is what makes the Mona Lisa smile. View in LinkedIn

EMOTION SIGNALS. “The evolution of trichromatic vision and high visual acuity within Old World primates have been partially linked to their extensive and frequent use of visual communication including facial displays.” https://lnkd.in/di-WAXE View in LinkedIn