27May 2022 by Post

Troubles with the Tree of Life

Acta Biotheoretica, Amadeo Estrada, DNA, Evolution, evolutionary theory, Intelligent Design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, Latin America, LUCA, molecular sequences, molecular studies, National Autonomous University of Mexico, origin of life, Philosophy of Science, reconstructions, Research, RNA, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, Tree of Life, W. Ford Doolittle
Sixty years ago, philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn listed what he described as the “symptoms” of a research field undergoing destabilizing change. Source
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03Apr 2020 by Post

The “Why” of the Fly “Y”: Reflections on “Junk” DNA

Alison Nguyen, axioms, Carmen Sapienza, chromosomes, DNA, Doris Bachtrog, Drosophila melanogaster, Emily Brown, euchromatin, Evolution, Francis Crick, fruit fly, genetics, heterochromatic proteins, heterochromatin, Junk DNA, Leslie Orgel, nucleus, organism, phenotype, repetitive sequences, Richard Dawkins, RNA, The Selfish Gene, transposable elements, W. Ford Doolittle, Y chromosome
In April 1980, almost exactly forty years ago, the journal Nature published a pair of highly influential articles on the topic of what has become known as “junk” or “selfish” DNA. Both reflected the key concept of The Selfish Gene, the highly influential 1976 book by Richard Dawkins, namely, that organisms are merely DNA’s way of making more DNA. The first was authored by W. Ford Doolittle and Carmen Sapienza and titled “Selfish genes, the phenotype paradigm and genome evolution.”1 The second was authored by Leslie Orgel and Francis Crick and titled “Selfish DNA: the ultimate parasite.”2 Together they posited an easy-to-grasp way to conceive of “excess” nucleotides along chromosomes — repetitive sequences in general and transposable elements in particular. In short, it was proposed that most such DNA elements…
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