New Ideas in Evolutionary Biology: From NDMS to EES Cover Image

Nowe idee w biologii ewolucyjnej: od NDMS do EES
New Ideas in Evolutionary Biology: From NDMS to EES

Author(s): Sy Garte
Subject(s): Philosophy of Science
Published by: Instytut Filozofii, Uniwersytet Zielonogórski
Keywords: neo-Darwinian modern synthesis; extended evolutionary synthesis; natural genetic engineering; stress-directed mutations; evo devo; gene regulatory networks; convergence; niche construction; teleology

Summary/Abstract: The neo-Darwinian modern synthesis (NDMS) has been the bedrock of evolutionary theory for many decades. But the NDMS has proven limited and out of date with respect to several areas of biological research. A new extended evolutionary synthesis (EES), which takes into account more complex interactions between genomes, the cell and the environment, allows for a reexamination of many of the assumptions of the NDMS. To the standard paradigm of slow accumulation of random point mutations as the major mechanism of biological variation must now be added new data and concepts of symbiosis, gene duplication, horizontal gene transfer, retrotransposition, epigenetic control networks, niche construction, stress-directed mutations, and large-scale reengineering of the genome in response to environmental stimuli. There may be implications for Christian faith in this opening of evolutionary theory to a broader and more exciting view of Darwin’s great theory.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 15
  • Page Range: 415-440
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: English, Polish
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