Items related to Darwin in the Genome: Strategies in Biological Evolution
Adam Wilkins’ review in BioEssays, places Darwin in the Genome in the tradition of “The best popular science books [which] do more than simply present a complex scientific subject in clear, informative and interesting ways to the general reader. They also offer a new thesis or perspective, one that will engage the interest of specialists in the subject as well as non-experts....If it succeeds in provoking discussion about a critical idea, the book’s impact and usefulness will go considerably beyond that of the average good ... book.” [Dr. Caporale] points to evidence that “survival of the fittest” is widely misunderstood, for research reveals of the importance of diversity and cooperation for survival. “We share with each other, no less than with the majesty of the redwoods and the doves, the fact that each of us is a unique creation of the barely tapped potential immanent in the first genomes on Earth.” --- from the Prologue When Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species, no understood how traits passed from parent to child. No one used the word “gene.” Nearly a century later, the Avery lab found, much to everyone’s surprise including their own, that DNA carries genetic information. A decade after Avery, the double helical model for DNA suggested how information could be transmitted from one generation to the next. Now we have seen the complete DNA sequences of many thousands of genomes. What has this taught us about evolution? In Darwin in the Genome, molecular biologist Lynn Helena Caporale goes beyond simple description of new information. In a book much like Darwin’s Origin itself, written for both scientists and non-scientists, carefully referenced while presenting groundbreaking insights into evolution, Dr. Caporale argues that just like beaks and wings, the generation of mutations feels the pressure of natural selection. In addition, Darwin in the Genome devotes several chapters to implications for understanding, and fighting against, infectious disease and cancer. For those who can’t conceive of how “random” mutation could create complicated and well-adapted life, Dr. Caporale shows that mutation is NOT evenly distributed across a genome and that, from pathogens to our own immune system, life-preserving creative mutations can become much more likely than random destructive mutations. Darwin in the Genome presents a compelling case that from generation to generation selection inevitably incorporates a “world view’ into the mechanisms that generate genome variation, and that the most intriguing aspect of mutation is not that it is “random” but that across time some classes of mutation become more likely, contributing to survival. In other words, the ability to evolve itself evolves.
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From the Back Cover:
About the Author:
The enthralling story of strategic genomes and the revolutionary discoveries at the cutting edge of bio-research.
"Each of us is, in a way, an experiment, and an example of the life-preserving, creative diversity expressed at our moment in time by the human genome. Indeed, we share with each other, no less than with the majesty of the Redwoods and the doves, the fact that each of us is a unique creation of the barely-tapped potential immanent in the first genomes on Earth."--From the Introduction
Now that we have the basic blueprint of the human genome in hand, scientists are beginning to probe more deeply into life's mysteries in ways that have never been possible before. One of the most enduring and controversial of those mysteries is how evolution by natural selection could have produced the incredibly complex life forms we see all around us. How could a process based on random mutation exhibit such powerful, seemingly progressive, principles of design? Until now, this question has been fiercely debated by those who believe that there must be an intelligent designer driving the process and those who believe that random mutation can somehow produce sufficient complexity.
But now, in this eloquent and timely book, Lynn Caporale, a molecular biologist at the forefront of genomics research, offers an exciting new theory that sees past both the ideas of a random model, and the alternative of divine intervention, to see a more subtle and intricate mechanism at work: a mechanism that looks startlingly strategic and purposeful, and yet is consistent with the basic Darwinian model. Simply put: Not all mutations are "random accidents." In the struggle for survival--from pathogens to flowers, birds to orangutans, baker's yeast to human beings--the fittest genomes are brilliant strategists, responding to, and in fact anticipating, challenges and opportunities in their environments.
Writing with elegant clarity and rigor, Lynn Caporale describes the emergence of genomic mutations strategies, spelling out some of the more profound implications of these findings, including the possibility of bold new directions for medical research, and the inherent dangers of attempting to fix perceived "errors" in a human genome, all the while stressing the importance of human diversity--and biodiversity--for survival in a world in which each of us shares 99.97% of our DNA with every "perfect stranger" on Earth.
"There was a moment when the dust itself edged, in slow motion, over a boundary into life. It entered onto a path strewn with dangers, uncertainty, and creativity. It spread its growing skill across the Earth until it learned how to fly at will, how to sit still, here, and to discuss its own evolution. Those who do not believe that we have evolved from life forms that are invisible to the naked eye--and even those who do--find it hard to conceive of how this journey could have succeeded, relying only on random mutation and survival of the "fittest." It seems most inconceivable that there has been enough time for mere molecules to organize themselves into a being that could compose music, travel to the moon and back, and indeed analyze its own genome. How did we get this far, even once, in only billions of years? How could we have happened so randomly? In the greatest achievement in human intellectual history, the information in our genome, the product of billions of years of evolution, now is opening before us. What answers does our genome hold about the Big Questions that whisper to us all? What does it say of the "immense journey" it has taken, as it passed through uncounted life forms to be carried within us, as we sit here, discussing our origins and our fate?"--From the Introduction
Lynn Helena Caporale received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research and teaching career has included positions at Columbia University, New York University, St. John’s University, Memorial/Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Rockefeller University and Georgetown University Medical Center. She spent over a decade at Merck Research Laboratories where, as Senior Director for Scientific Evaluation, she was responsible for identifying and evaluating promising new approaches to combat challenging human health problems. Dr. Caporale chaired several international interdisciplinary conferences on Genome Evolution, and held research and senior executive positions with biotechnology companies, in the pharmaceutical industry, and currently is an independent consultant focused on genome evolution and translational medicine. She lives in New York City.
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- PublisherCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication date2014
- ISBN 10 1494211084
- ISBN 13 9781494211080
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages256
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