JTW's Evolutionary Origins - Author: Wachtershauser, Gunter

Explanation of Evolutionary Distribution

[pp. 125]

"The extant biochemical features have a peculiar distribution between the domains of archaea, bacteria, and eucarya (Woese et. al., 1990) or between lower-ranking taxa. The degree of universality has frequently been taken as a criterion for antiquity (e.g. Benner et. al., 1989). This however is based on the untenable notion of inductivism: the attempt to induce a theory from biochemical 'data'...[W]e take the distributions of biochemical features merely as more facts to be explained by a theory. Four explanations of distribution are possible."

Explanation of Distribution #1

[pp. 125]

Universality due to antiquity

Explanation of Distribution #2

[pp. 125]

Universality due to lateral transfer

Explanation of Distribution #3

[pp. 125]

Non-universality due to lateness of arrival

Explanation of Distribution #4

[pp. 125]

Non-universality
due to a non-even distribution of the
processes of pathway takeover(E8),
pathway abandonment(E7)
or
pathway reversal(E11) etc.

• Wachtershauser, Gunter
  • Groundworks for an Evolutionary Biochemistry: The Iron-Sulphur World
  • Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology: Vol. 58, No. 2, pp.85-202
  • 1992
  • [Pubmed]

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