Wonder of wonders Chapter xiii 1

Beyond Darwinism
( Impact of Mendelism etc )

It is difficult to believe but true

that Darwin had missed the cue
for many a developments in nature
which affect and influence speciation
apart from slow gradual Natural selection
resulting in development of new species.

His theories caused a revolution

in the understanding of Nature
explaining scientifically
one of the main causes of the
origin of species ie evolution;
but it remained for others to discover
other causes and the mechanism of
Heredity and Variation in Nature .

One of the important factors being

Mendelian genetics which explains
mechanism of inheritance and indicates,
interalia, that due to segregation of alleles
and independent assortment of traits
in the process of sexual reproduction
re combinations during hybridization
produce new genotypes and phenotypes .
resulting in development of new varieties
Wonder of wonders 2

Another important factor is Mutation

discovered by H. De Vries in Primrose
but observed and established finally by
Thomas Morgan in the eyes of Fruit fly

Unlike accumulation of gradual changes

and perpetuation of preferred variation
by the process of the natural selection
it could cause heritable changes in genotype
immediately in a way in a ‘revolutionary fashion’
suddenly creating a new and novel variation .

Yet another factor is environmental in fact

which we now know can suitably affect
Evo devo, and their interplay may bring about
phenotypic and epigenetic modifications
leading ultimately to evolution of new varieties

There are actually many paths and ways

by which nature marches ahead always
adopting a variety of processes and modes
in order to keep going on and on, on its course;
including chance genetic drift which generally reduces
and gene flow which normally increases,
variation ; and for that matter
the allopatric or geographic speciation .;

But most interesting of all are perhaps

The Horizontal gene transfer games
common mainly in unicellular forms
Wonder of wonders 3

as a major player in evolution’s arms ,

(but not unknown in higher forms )
In fact
bacteria to bacteria gene transfer
directly by conjugation or F pilus
or through the medium of Virus
has become notorious for spread so far
of antibiotic resistance in many of them by far ;

It is also mentionable
that Horizontal transfer of genes from
Bacteria to yeast and even to beetle
and so also transfer to Rotifers from
bacteria fungi or plants is noticeable .

However
the most interesting and wonderful
is the fact that chloroplasts and mitochondria
of which the plants are so full
are derived from ancient bacteria ;
and transfers between them and the
plant genome are also now known.How Cool !

Hearing all this I am reminded

of the old story of an elephant
and five blind men who described
it according to the part each touched
and unknown to them a lot remained
still unexplored and undiscovered .
Wonder of wonders 4

Equally interesting is the accepted fact

that even science has to admit with tact
the play of probability and chance
in heredity and variation at a glance;
just notice talk of random distribution
of alleles and traits in Mendelian conception ,
so also in genetic drift and geographic speciation.

So Nature naturally tends to retain

some of the secrets in its train
and you may call it luck or fate
with which it always keeps the date ;
and that elephant and blind man’s ancient tale
has a high probability of being right till date .

Santosh Ratan
5/108 SFS
Mansarovar Jaipur

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causing new developments by migration of
individuals from their own to another group
and transfer genes changing allele frequency there.

Horizontal transfer of genes

between individuals by some means
is now known to be a major player in
evolution by diverse mechanisms
particularly in bacteria and other
unicellular organisms but operating
in others as well
as by algae or bacteria or virus by
its infection causing ‘styles’ and ‘schemes’