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EXCESSIVE REDUNDANCY. “Knockout experiments do not necessarily give a good readout of the functionality of that protein or gene. In yeast knockouts up to 80% of the genes are silent, and that does not mean that they do not have physiological functions. The system is so well backed up that other networks take over the function of the knocked out gene.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

PRINCIPLE 9. “The self is not an object.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

MORE THAN SEMANTICS. “There is an absolutely fundamental difference between the traditional definition of a gene as a sequence of DNA and a phenotypic trait. If you define the gene as the phenotype there is no experiment that will tell you if that is the cause or not because it is necessarily the cause. If you define a gene as a DNA sequence as is done today you have a very different definition of a gene. You have omitted all the other properties of a cell which are also inherited.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

PRINCIPLE 8. “There are no programs in the brain.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

NON-GERMLINE INHERITANCE. “Inherited epigenetic effects, of which there are quite a number known are a new reality in our thinking. A single generational epigenetic response to a stress can be subsequently inherited. Epigenetic changes can be assimilated into the genome. Even Darwin’s Galapagos finches show epigenetic inheritance. DNA and epigenetic evolution interact, so it is not just one or the other.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

LAMARCKISM. “Darwin’s theory of evolution was based on natural selection but in many writings he accepts the idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Darwin never quarreled with Lamarck about that question. Transmission of cellular somatic changes that are transmitted to the germline presented problems for Darwin. What passes through the germline to the next generation, for Darwin, is very close to what we have found with epigenetic mechanisms today.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

DIRECTIONAL EVOLUTION. “I challenge the extent to which things are purely random. Subtle constraints may not be seen at the molecular level. These are the constraints from the environment and the constraints from the history of the organism.” https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

MULTILEVEL SELECTION. Selection works through death and life. What survives is what is selected for, what is let to die, disappears. The process of dying is not actually the function of genes. It seems to me to be blindingly obvious that selection itself is also occurring at the level of the organism. But the same point can apply to populations. Populations are in competition and some survive and others do not. It is things that live and die that are the target of evolution. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

MORE THAN JUST GENES. Selection can occur at any level, not just at the level of the gene. The gene is not the only level of selection, which can happen at multi-levels. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn

HARNESSING RANDOMNESS. We have to rethink the question of blind stochasticity. Stochasticity is completely compatible with functionality at a high level. Stochasticity can be harnessed by organisms to generate desired functionality in response to stress in the environment. https://lnkd.in/eBKWC7d View in LinkedIn