February 5th, 2012 at 9:03AM
The Pillars of Darwinism By Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb Published on February 9, 2009 Until recently, biologists’ view of these processes has been very gene-centered, as exemplified by Richard Dawkins’ idea of the “selfish gene.” Inheritance and reproduction have been seen in terms of DNA and its replication, and variation in terms of random changes in DNA sequences. Yet discoveries made during the latter part of the twentieth century have shown that there is much more to inheritance than DNA. We now know of several mechanisms that enable cells with identical DNA to have different characteristics, which are transmitted to daughter cells. This epigenetic inheritance is a crucial part of normal development in multi-cellular animals like us. Read more in Project Syndicate. This editorial was originally written to marked mark the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s birthday in 2009.

The Pillars of Darwinism

By Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb

Published on February 9, 2009

Until recently, biologists’ view of these processes has been very gene-centered, as exemplified by Richard Dawkins’ idea of the “selfish gene.” Inheritance and reproduction have been seen in terms of DNA and its replication, and variation in terms of random changes in DNA sequences.

Yet discoveries made during the latter part of the twentieth century have shown that there is much more to inheritance than DNA. We now know of several mechanisms that enable cells with identical DNA to have different characteristics, which are transmitted to daughter cells. This epigenetic inheritance is a crucial part of normal development in multi-cellular animals like us.

Read more in Project Syndicate. This editorial was originally written to marked mark the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s birthday in 2009.

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2 notes Source: project-syndicate.org #evolutionary biology#genetics#epigenetics
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