Epigenetics: through phenotype changes? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, January 14, 2015, 01:41 (3603 days ago) @ David Turell
edited by dhw, Wednesday, January 14, 2015, 08:22

Do animals have control over their evolution through choosing minor changes in habits that modify their bodies:-"What they are saying is something subtler. Over their lifetimes, living things make all sorts of adjustments to their physical being - what biologists call the phenotype, as opposed to the genetic make-up, or genotype - to get along better in the environment they find themselves in. They grow differently based on how they use their bodies, they turn certain genes on and others off, they learn new behaviours, and so on.-"None of these changes count as evolution, because they don't directly change the organism's genetic make-up. But they do shape the way natural selection acts on these genes, and in that way they push evolution in a different direction. In effect, the genes, which we have always thought of as occupying the driver's seat, have slid over to let the phenotype take the wheel. When the phenotype changes for some purpose, the genes that enhance that response might come along for the ride."-http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029380.700-lifes-purpose-can-animals-guide-their-own-evolution.html?full=true#.VLXI9mA5C1s