exaptations: thru biochemistry (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, July 16, 2013, 19:35 (4148 days ago) @ David Turell

Another approach to complexity without natural selection;-"Thornton and his colleagues have uncovered precisely the kind of evolutionary episode predicted by the zero-force evolutionary law. Over time, life produced more parts—that is, more ring proteins. And then those extra parts began to diverge from one another. The fungi ended up with a more complex structure than their ancestors had. But it did not happen the way Darwin had imagined, with natural selection favoring a series of intermediate forms. Instead the fungal ring degenerated its way into complexity."-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-surprising-origins-of-evolutionary-complexity&page=5-A very thorough and complete disucussion of alternate pathways to complexity.-"Gray, McShea and Brandon acknowledge the important role of natural selection in the rise of the complexity that surrounds us, from the biochemistry that builds a feather to the photosynthetic factories inside the leaves of trees. Yet they hope their research will coax other biologists to think beyond natural selection and to see the possibility that random mutation can fuel the evolution of complexity on its own. "We don't dismiss adaptation at all as part of that," Gray says. "We just don't think it explains everything.'"