Energy, genes and evolution: Introduction to an evolutionary synthesis

Lane, N; Martin, WF; Raven, JA; Allen, JF

Energy, genes and evolution: Introduction to an evolutionary synthesis

Lane, N Martin, WF Raven, JA

Allen, JF

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013, 368 (1622)
Issue Date:: 2013-07-19

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Lane, N	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Martin, WF	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Raven, JA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2789-3297	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Allen, JF	en_US
dc.date.issued	2013-07-19	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013, 368 (1622)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0962-8436	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118012
dc.description.abstract	Life is the harnessing of chemical energy in such away that the energy-harnessing device makes a copy of itself. No energy, no evolution. The 'modern synthesis' of the past century explained evolution in terms of genes, but this is only part of the story. While themechanisms of natural selection are correct, and increasingly well understood, they do little to explain the actual trajectories taken by life on Earth. From a cosmic perspective-what is the probability of life elsewhere in the Universe, and what are its probable traits?-a genebased view of evolution says almost nothing. Irresistible geological and environmental changes affected eukaryotes and prokaryotes in very different ways, ones that do not relate to specific genes or niches. Questions such as the early emergence of life, the morphological and genomic constraints on prokaryotes, the singular origin of eukaryotes, and the unique and perplexing traits shared by all eukaryotes but not found in any prokaryote, are instead illuminated by bioenergetics. If nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution, nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of energetics. This Special Issue of Philosophical Transactions examines the interplay between energy transduction and genome function in the major transitions of evolution, with implications ranging from planetary habitability to human health. We hope that these papers will contribute to a new evolutionary synthesis of energetics and genetics. © 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1098/rstb.2012.0253	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Evolutionary Biology	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Animals	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Gene Expression Regulation	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Energy Metabolism	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Genome	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Biological Evolution	en_US
dc.title	Energy, genes and evolution: Introduction to an evolutionary synthesis	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1622	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	368	en_US
utslib.for	06 Biological Sciences	en_US
utslib.for	11 Medical and Health Sciences	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	1622	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	368	en_US

Abstract:

Life is the harnessing of chemical energy in such away that the energy-harnessing device makes a copy of itself. No energy, no evolution. The 'modern synthesis' of the past century explained evolution in terms of genes, but this is only part of the story. While themechanisms of natural selection are correct, and increasingly well understood, they do little to explain the actual trajectories taken by life on Earth. From a cosmic perspective-what is the probability of life elsewhere in the Universe, and what are its probable traits?-a genebased view of evolution says almost nothing. Irresistible geological and environmental changes affected eukaryotes and prokaryotes in very different ways, ones that do not relate to specific genes or niches. Questions such as the early emergence of life, the morphological and genomic constraints on prokaryotes, the singular origin of eukaryotes, and the unique and perplexing traits shared by all eukaryotes but not found in any prokaryote, are instead illuminated by bioenergetics. If nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution, nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of energetics. This Special Issue of Philosophical Transactions examines the interplay between energy transduction and genome function in the major transitions of evolution, with implications ranging from planetary habitability to human health. We hope that these papers will contribute to a new evolutionary synthesis of energetics and genetics. © 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118012