The Quarterly Review of Biology, December 2010, vol. 85, no. 4
Copyright © 2010 by The University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.
0033-5770/2010/8504-0002$15.00
DOI: 10.1086/656902
Experimental evolution, loss-of-function mutations, and “the first rule of adaptive evolution”
Michael J. Behe
Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015 USA
mjb1@lehigh.edu
ABSTRACT
Adaptive evolution can cause a species to gain, lose, or modify a function; therefore, it is of basic interest to determine whether any of these modes dominates the evolutionary process under particular circumstances. Because mutation occurs at the molecular level, it is necessary to examine the molecular changes produced by the underlying mutation in order to assess whether a given adaptation is best considered as a gain, loss, or modification of function. Although that was once impossible, the advance of molecular biology in the past half century has made it feasible. In this paper, I review molecular changes underlying some adaptations, with a particular emphasis on evolutionary experiments with microbes conducted over the past four decades. I show that by far the most common adaptive changes seen in those examples are due to the loss or modification of a pre-existing molecular function, and I discuss the possible reasons for the prominence of such mutations.
KEYWORDS
experimental evolution adaptation mutation loss of function malaria Yersinia pestis
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NOTA DESTE BLOGGER:
Eu queria ver a cara de alguns na Nomenklatura científica e na Galera dos meninos e meninas de Darwin: mais um artigo de teórico do Design Inteligente, com revisão por pares, publicado em um journal científico de uma universidade de renome!
