Woese ‘falou e disse’: chegou a hora de irmos além da “doutrina” do ancestral comum, capice?

Quando eu escrevo aqui neste blog que o darwinismo tem ares de “religião”, a Nomenklatura científica esperneia, a galera dos meninos e meninas de Darwin grita tresloucadamente, e a Grande Mídia tupiniquim e internacional pemanece silenciosa como convém a toda amante se portar em público.

Neste artigo, Woese ‘falou e disse’: “chegou a hora de irmos além da Doutrina do Ancestral Comum”, p. 8745. NOTA BENE: DOUTRINA, Woese não chamou de princípio ou hipótese, mas de DOUTRINA. Eu não posso dizer outra coisa e concordar com Woese: é preciso ir além da DOUTRINA DO ANCESTRAL COMUM, e que venha logo a nova teoria geral da evolução, SÍNTESE EVOLUTIVA AMPLIADA, que não será selecionista, contrariando a hipótese de Darwin.

PDF gratuito no PNAS [108 KB, 6 páginas]

On the evolution of cells

1. Carl R. Woese

Author Affiliations

1. Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 601 South Goodwin Avenue, B103 Chemical and Life Sciences Laboratory, Urbana, IL 61801-3709

1. Contributed by Carl R. Woese

Abstract

A theory for the evolution of cellular organization is presented. The model is based on the (data supported) conjecture that the dynamic of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is primarily determined by the organization of the recipient cell. Aboriginal cell designs are taken to be simple and loosely organized enough that all cellular componentry can be altered and/or displaced through HGT, making HGT the principal driving force in early cellular evolution. Primitive cells did not carry a stable organismal genealogical trace. Primitive cellular evolution is basically communal. The high level of novelty required to evolve cell designs is a product of communal invention, of the universal HGT field, not intralineage variation. It is the community as a whole, the ecosystem, which evolves. The individual cell designs that evolved in this way are nevertheless fundamentally distinct, because the initial conditions in each case are somewhat different. As a cell design becomes more complex and interconnected a critical point is reached where a more integrated cellular organization emerges, and vertically generated novelty can and does assume greater importance. This critical point is called the “Darwinian Threshold” for the reasons given.

Footnotes

E-mail: carl@phylo.life.uiuc.edu

Abbreviations: HGT, horizontal gene transfer; SMA, supramolecular aggregate
Copyright © 2002, The National Academy of Sciences