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Warwick Collins's A Silent Gene Theory of Evolution is a direct challenge to the theory that natural selection drives evolution. Collins argues that the central story of evolution is one of simple organisms developing into more varied, complex organisms. Natural selection, however, does exactly the opposite. It reduces variation within any species in favour of an optimum type for any environment.
Charles Darwin himself was highly aware of the problem. In The Origin of Species he wrote "... unless profitable variations do occur, natural selection can do nothing." If variation must always be present before natural selection can act, Collins argues, then whatever process generates variation, and not natural selection, drives evolution.
What, then, is the source of the constantly replenished variation throughout evolutionary systems? There are considerable problems with the orthodox neo-Darwinian theory that evolution is driven by natural selection acting on the physical characteristics of the organism -- which is to say on the genes which "code" for those physical characteristics. One of these problems is that because natural selection can "see" the genes which code for physical characteristics, it can act to reduce variation in those genes.
Collins set out to find a natural source which could supply sufficient variation to overcome the variation-reducing effects of natural selection. He postulated that the best theoretical source of variation would consist of large numbers of "silent" genes. Because these silent or inert genes did not code for physical characteristics, they could not be "seen" by natural selection acting on the physical characteristics of the organism, and could accumulate mutations over time without any deleterious effect on the host organism. At a later stage, by largely random means, they could be switched on, and begin to code for physical characteristics. Each such new coding gene would be just as likely to be deleterious or beneficial as any other mutation. But that, Collins argues, is not the point. The point is that the silent genes could not be "seen" by natural selection while in the silent phase, and so could evolve on infinitely more fertile pathways to new genes than the coding genes. The slow precipitation of radical new coding genes from the silent genes would provide the variation required to drive evolution.
This theory directed Collins towards the "junk" genes, which exhibited several of the chief properties of his theoretical silent genes. They were silent or inert, and they existed in large numbers in the genomes of all complex species. In strong support of his theory, mounting evidence shows that the source of new coding genes is predominantly from the silent genes, just as Collins's theory predicts. A surprisingly high number of other emerging features of the genome were also correctly predicted by silent gene theory.
If it continues to be supported by the evidence, Collins's revolutionary theory has even wider implications. The notion that evolution is driven by variation generated in the silent genes shifts the emphasis away from the survival of the fittest, or "nature red in tooth and claw" towards the view that evolution progresses fastest when there is maximum variation and diversity amongst any population.
The great theoretical physicist, Professor Freeman Dyson, wrote, "I like your theory, and think it has a good chance of being right... Darwin would have liked your theory." There is also an introduction by Professor Donald Braben, who wrote "I agree that variation is more important than natural selection. Silent gene theory ... is the more complete theory of evolution."
For both scientists and the general readership, A Silent Gene Theory of Evolution will prove fascinating for all those with an interest in the origins of life. Short, accessible and beautifully written, it could be one of the most important works of our era.
- Sales Rank: #1908619 in eBooks
- Published on: 2012-05-03
- Released on: 2012-05-03
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
"This book should be read by everyone who is interested in the origin of our species."
This work proposes to resolve two central mysteries of evolutionary biology: why organisms' genomes are filled with large amounts of genetic coding sequences with no known function (some 98.5 percent in humans) and how variation can occur in organism populations when natural selection reduces variation in favor of an evolutionary optimum for a given environment. He argues that the so-called "junk DNA" consists of silent genes that are not subject to the normal processes of natural selection and thus can evolve freely over long periods of time without adversely affecting the host organisms. He further argues that a strong theory of variation as the driver of evolution provides a better general theory of evolution than Darwin's theory that evolution is driven by natural selection. Previously unavailable in the US.
About the Author
WARWICK COLLINS studied biology at Sussex University, where his tutor was the theoretical biologist John Maynard Smith. His first poems were published by the magazine Encounter when he was in his early twenties. He has since published ten novels, including The Sonnets and Gents. Gents has been reviewed in the Times in its series of all-time literary classics.
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
If Darwin were alive today, he would have liked this book.
By David Pidsley
Darwin wrote that variation within species must be present before natural selection can act. But natural selection reduces variation in favour of an optimum type. So where does variation come from? Warwick Collins looked for much of his life for an independent source of variation, and came to the conclusion that it was only possible if a special class of genes were present, which he called silent genes. Such genes did not code for physical characteristics and therefore could not be "seen" by natural selection acting on the physical characteristics of the organism. Existing beneath the radar of natural selection, they could mutate freely over time. Eventually they could be switched on, generating exotic new variations. Collins found, to his delight, that such genes were present in vast numbers, and that the evidence shows that the great majority of new coding genes emerge from the silent genes, exactly as his theory proposed. His theory also suggested that, if silent genes generated the variation that drove evolution, the most complex species would tend to have the highest ratios of silent genes. This prediction has also been strongly confirmed across evolutionary systems. If Collins is right, silent genes drive evolution, and natural selection is a secondary process which occurs after variation has been generated. I agree with the cover quote on the book by the great physicist Freeman Dyson. If Darwin were alive today, he would have liked this theory.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Is Science as Open-Minded as It Claims to be?
By Constant Reader
Fascinating book ~ not only for Collins's theory, but also for what is revealed about the scientific community's reaction to it.
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