dttom Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Though I think it won't be so appropriate to reply thread few years ago, but I still want to have a few words on genetic level or individual level of selection. I should agree that for each time of selection (who dies, who lives), natural selection acts on individual level, so at genomic level; however, in long run, why shouldn't it act on genes' level, fostered by crossing over in meiosis? A complication arrives with speciation that, as genes in a genome are bundled together, if a gene could not be resolved (if a gene is resolved, it got the chances to be in different genomes (of course in different individuals) for natural selection) before microevolution occurs, probably the selection level could stay at a higher level than a gene. When talking about a gene could only exert its effect in a given genetic environment (together with other genes), as in the case of any individual, I have to admit that this is definitely the fact. But does this fact affect or change the consideration in selective level is another matter. For me this is a fact stating that a gene could have different effects in different combinations of genes (actually I would prefer, and better to, use the word gene assembly), but as long as a gene could be resolved, it got the chances to be in different genomes, and individual gene effect could be selected by natural selection. The result could be a gene might exert more advantageous effect when combining with a set of other genes (actually this is usually the case as a phenotype, no matter is the traditional definition of phenotype or the extended phenotype, is usually determined not by a single gene), in this case, such a gene assembly would be advantageous if they have a low COV relative to each other (harder to resolved from each other), ultimate result might be fusion to a single gene (please beware of the use of the word 'gene', not cistron, a 'gene' here could refer to a number of encoded polypeptides) which is selected later as single unit (this might be refered to by someone as an evidence to support the allegation of selection at a level higher than gene, so for me it is not a matter of concept but a matter of definition, view of phenomenon and explanation). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 If you want to discuss this, maybe you should start a new thread. There are a couple of things in this thread that are somewhat inaccurate, but I do not want to revive arguments from two years back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now