Rapid evolution or epigenetics? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, April 29, 2011, 14:30 (4957 days ago) @ dhw


> This will not, of course, lead to innovation, but my comparison here is with intelligent cooperation WITHIN organisms, which may lead to adaptations or innovations. I'm fully aware that such inventive, intelligent mechanisms are highly unlikely to come into existence by chance. My tentative suggestion is that in the course of evolution they do not follow a pre-ordained programme (David's version) and they do not depend on random mutations (the Darwinian version), but themselves initiate and develop changes from within.-In this article bacteria create a new chemical way to methylate DNA and become resistant to seen classees of antibiotics. This is epigenetics at its best. You misunderstand my 'pre-ordained' theory of evolution. Part of the theory that evolution has built in directionality includes giving organisms the ability to protect themselves from sudden environmental changes within the framework of driving evolution to create humans. It is quite clear that epigenetic changes are a powerful evolutionary tool.-http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-bacteria-evolved-unique-chemical-mechanism.html