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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

GAMING TRANSPOSONS. "The second class of selfish genetic elements consists of meiotic drivers that exploit the asymmetry of female meiosis. These elements achieve transmission in excess of 50% by preferentially moving into the meiotic products that will eventually become the eggs or megaspores." http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/28/050831.full.pdf View in LinkedIn

CHEATING TRANSPOSONS. "These selfish genetic elements fall into two classes. Killer selfish genetic elements kill cells that have not inherited the element. In principle, such killers could operate during meiosis (the hypothetical ‘sister killers’ as discussed above), but the numerous killer selfish genetic elements that have so far been described operate postmeiotically, e.g. by killing sibling sperm." https://lnkd.in/e2tp_G5 View in LinkedIn

GENETIC CHEATING. "A striking feature of meiosis is its apparent fairness: under Mendel’s first law of inheritance, each allele has a 50% chance of ending up in any given gamete. However, there are many selfish genetic elements that increase their chances above 50% by subverting the mechanism of meiosis." http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/28/050831.full.pdf View in LinkedIn

BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF SEX? "Why is sexuality (and meiosis) so common? This is one of the important unanswered questions in biology and has been the focus of much research beginning in the latter half of the twentieth century." https://lnkd.in/exK5mn7 View in LinkedIn

LOADED OOCYTES. "In other cases, asymmetrical meiosis in females results in a large oocyte full of resources, which may favour the production of a single cell rather than four." http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/28/050831.full.pdf View in LinkedIn

DOMINANT QUESTION. "The mysteries of meiosis call for new developments of evolutionary theory. Overall, all these mysteries tend to have been overshadowed by the famous question of the maintenance of sex." http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/28/050831.full.pdf View in LinkedIn

Pressure grows for UK to bring in blanket ban on ivory trade View in LinkedIn