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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

THE MEASURE OF BIODIVERSITY. “Incommensurate species concepts do matter, because (a) biodiversity is a field that depends on the ability to compare and integrate biodiversity data across myriad systems—indeed, across the entire biosphere, and (b) species are the currency with which biodiversity is measured.” 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

“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

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

NEW INDIVIDUAL THINKING. “Similarly, neither can the multi-cellular eukaryotes notion of an “individual” be applied straightforwardly to prokaryotes. Efforts to squeeze prokaryotes into these multi-cellular eukaryotes notions will produce results that are either metaphorical or misleading or wrong.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

NEW SPECIES THINKING. “The upshot is that the multi-cellular eukaryote “species-as-lineage”—or any phylogeny-based species concept—cannot be applied to prokaryotes because they lack discrete, whole-genome lineages.” 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

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