James Allen Bressem
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Post by James Allen Bressem on Mar 31, 2004 3:19:16 GMT -5
What if the merging of viruses with multicellular and other life forms was the origin of genetic specialization, ears, eyes, stomach, etc.? In the long term viruses must tend to form symbiosis with their hosts as the most expedient means to the maintenance of survival. Those incapable of forming symbiosis with their host would be selected out through natural selection. Name: James Allen Bressem Email: WizardOfWizards@EarthLink.net UCOM: www.ucom-ism.comMirror: www.geocities.com/wizardofwizards |
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Post by alex221166 on Mar 31, 2004 6:35:08 GMT -5
What if the merging of viruses with multicellular and other life forms was the origin of genetic specialization, ears, eyes, stomach, etc.? In the long term viruses must tend to form symbiosis with their hosts as the most expedient means to the maintenance of survival. Those incapable of forming symbiosis with their host would be selected out through natural selection. Name: James Allen Bressem Email: WizardOfWizards@EarthLink.net UCOM: www.ucom-ism.comMirror: www.geocities.com/wizardofwizardsWe surely have fragments of viral genetic material in our own genome, but I don't think it had much to do with the specialization of certain tissues - that is all owed to the appearance of the celomic (sp?) cavity which ultimately allowed certain organs (intestins, etc) to develop inside a space with defined boundaries. What few (?) people are aware of, is that multi-cellular organisms are the result of a symbiosis between two or more unicellular organisms. The famous mitochondria replicate independantly from the rest of the cell, and they have more in common with procariotic cells and with the more recent eucariotic cells that all pluricellular beings have. All specializations are the result of an environmental challenge, and the organism's ability/inability to respond with his own genome. In that aspect, viral infection might have had a role, but I don't think that it would be the source of all types of tissue specialization. |
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Scoob
Full Member
Posts: 157
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Post by Scoob on Mar 31, 2004 13:30:43 GMT -5
We surely have fragments of viral genetic material in our own genome, but I don't think it had much to do with the specialization of certain tissues - that is all owed to the appearance of the celomic (sp?) cavity which ultimately allowed certain organs (intestins, etc) to develop inside a space with defined boundaries. What few (?) people are aware of, is that multi-cellullar organisms are the result of a symbiosis between two or more unicellular organisms. The famous mitochondria replicate independantly from the rest of the cell, and they have more in common with procariotic cells and with the more recent eucariotic cells that all pluricellular beings have. All specializations are the result of an environmental challenge, and the organism's ability/inability to respond with his own genome. In that aspect, viral infection might have had a role, but I don't think that it would be the source of all types of tissue specialization. This is called Symbiogenesis - and it postulates that this kind of symbiosis is a key factor in the generation of evolutionary novelty. It's an important addition to the old purely "spew and skew" Darwinian models of evolutionary change. |
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Post by Springa on Apr 1, 2004 8:52:01 GMT -5
I believe this thread is in the wrong place.
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Post by Melnorme on Apr 1, 2004 8:58:11 GMT -5
I believe this thread is in the wrong place. Not anymore.  |
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