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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear Pedro and Colleagues, <br>
<br>
I have been following the thread of comments with great interest,
all of which have all been occasioned by John Torday's profound
insights about the nature of evolutionary development in light of
the importance of cell-cell signaling and molecular biology. From
the comments, it is clear that there is a strong impulse to seek a
means of integrating the role of symbiogenesis, viruses and mobile
elements, multilevel selection, niche construction, genomic
plasticity into a common narrative with an informational
perspective at its foundation. <br>
In the spirit of that line of discussion, I am offering two
links that discuss evolution as an biologic information management
system. Some of this work shares direct commonality with John's,
since he and I are frequent collaborators. <br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/5/2/21/htm">http://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/5/2/21/htm</a><br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S007961071730233X">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S007961071730233X</a><br>
<br>
Both of these articles can be considered as complementary to
Pedro's very fine article, 'How prokaryotes ‘encode’ their
environment: Systemic tools for organizing the information flow',
which is in BioSystems. <br>
<br>
I am grateful to John for inviting me to participate in the forum
and to Pedro for encouraging me to share these manuscripts. <br>
<br>
Best regards, <br>
Bill<br>
<br>
William B. Miller, Jr., M.D.<br>
602-463-5236<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:wbmiller1@cox.net">wbmiller1@cox.net</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 1/9/2018 5:19 AM, Pedro C. Marijuan wrote:<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear Soeren and Colleagues,<br>
<br>
The symbiogenesis theme (Margulis' endosymbiotic theory) is one
of the aspects to reconsider/reenter into the basically evo-info
(if I may say) novissima synthesis. Margulis views were received
in the 70's and 80's with tremendous hostility from the
Neo-Darwinian orthodoxy. After a long series of turmoils it was
accepted in many realms, particularly in popular science and
textbooks industry, and even by the always reluctant
Neo-Darwinians. Paradoxically in recent times the bioinformatic
and omic research on the origins of eukaryotes has put into
question basic tenets of that theory. The "deep sequencing"
research on protein families has also be problematic for
symbiogenesis. It does not mean that it is wrong, but that it is
more complicated than previously thought... That is my opinion
at least. In the present discussion, however, there are very
knowledgeable parties that can give more specific arguments
about that.<br>
<br>
Talking about Neo-Darwinians, the paragraph from John Torday
that I highlighted (see at the bottom) reminds me strongly from
that other from Richard Dawkins' (in The Selfish Gene): <br>
<h1 class="quoteText"><i><font face="Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif"><font size="-1">“We are survival machines –
robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the
selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth which
still fills me with astonishment.”</font></font></i></h1>
If we compare both paragraphs, the essential difference relies
on information. Torday's unicells develop not really multicell
robots, but info agents that collect information about the
environment, including the whole elements of the niche (i.e.,
including in the human case from the "microbiome" to the
"sociotype"). And fortunately the emphasis on "selfishness" has
disappeared. Perhaps one of the consequences of Margulis work
has been ideological, implying some general opening of views.
Besides that, we should pay close attention to some "invisible
threads" inside/outside those robots, like puppet strings: let
me emphasize the enormous evolutionary importance of viruses in
eukaryotic origins and evolution, and in epigenetic phenomena.
Really masterminding the whole topological/architectural
molecular processes.<br>
<br>
In any event, for the purpose of the discussion, I bet that the
new synthesis, the "novissimima", has to be evo-info... or it
won't be! <br>
(spoonful of salt, please)<br>
All the best--Pedro<br>
<br>
<br>
El 06/01/2018 a las 18:05, Søren Brier escribió:<br>
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<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Dear
Pedro<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">I am wondering why no one seems to think that
Lynn Margulis’ </span><span
style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"
lang="EN-US">theory that cell organelles such
as mitochondria and chloroplasts were once
independent bacteria is a crucial contribution to </span><span
lang="EN-US">cell biology in evolution theory ?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"
lang="EN-US">Best wishes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"
lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"
lang="EN-US">Søren Brier<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1F497D;background:#FFD966"
lang="EN-US"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00796107/131"
target="_blank">2017 JPBMB Focused Issue on Integral
Biomathics: The Necessary Conjunction of Western and
Eastern Thought Traditions for Exploring the Nature of
Mind and Life</a> </span><span
style="color:#1F497D;background:#FFD966" lang="EN-US"> *</span><span
style="color:#1F497D" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="color:#1F497D;background:#FFD966" lang="EN-US">*
free promotional access to all focused issue articles
until June 20th 2018 </span><span style="color:#1F497D"
lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"
lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"
lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"
lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"
lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"
lang="EN-US"> Fis [<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es"
moz-do-not-send="true">mailto:fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>PEDRO CLEMENTE MARIJUAN FERNANDEZ<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 5. januar 2018 14:40<br>
<b>To:</b> JOHN TORDAY <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:jtorday@ucla.edu" moz-do-not-send="true"><jtorday@ucla.edu></a>;
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es"
moz-do-not-send="true">fis@listas.unizar.es</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Fis] New Year Lecture<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">head><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Dear John and FIS Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Many thanks for this opening text of the NY Lecture. Indeed
you have presented us an intricate panorama on one of the
most obscure scientific problems of our time: the central
theory of biology. As you say, we find with astonishment
that there is literally no cell biology in evolution theory.
And I would ad that there is no "information biology"
either. A central theory becomes sort of a big Hall, where
plenty of disciplinary corridors converge and later
criss-cross among themselves. Darwinian theory is not that
common hall for the really big, big science domain of
biology. What are or where are the elements to rebuild the
common Hall of the biological domain? I quote from your
opening text: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size="+1"><b><em>"It is as if the unicellular state
delegates its progeny to interact with the environment
as agents, collecting data to inform the
recapitulating unicell of ecological changes that are
occurring. Through the acquisition and filtering of
epigenetic marks via meiosis, fertilization, and
embryogenesis, even on into adulthood, where the
endocrine system dictates the length and depth of the
stages of the life cycle, now known to be under
epigenetic control, the unicell remains in effective
synchrony with environmental changes."</em></b></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>It is really brilliant: a heads up reversal perspective. I
think out of these ideas there are plenty of disciplinary
excursions to make. One is "informational", another
"topological". Putting together two different algorithmic
descriptions and making them to build a torus (i.e.,
gastrula") as a universal departure for multicellularity
also reminds the ideas of Stuart Pivart ("Omnia Ex Torus")
about the primordials of multicellularity and the role of
mechanical forces in the patterning of developmental
processes. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Echoing the ideas discussed in the Royal Society meeting
(November 2016), there is a pretty long list of elements to
take into account together with epigenetic inheritance
(symbiogenesis, viruses and mobile elements, multilevel
selection, niche construction, genomic evolution...). As I
have suggested above, essential informational ideas are
missing too, and this absence of the informational
perspective in the ongoing evo discussions is not a good
thing. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>i any case, it is such a great theme to ponder... <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Best wishes to all<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>--Pedro<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p> On Wed, 3 Jan 2018 07:15:43 -0800 JOHN TORDAY wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">blockquote><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Dear FIS Colleagues, I have attached my New Year Lecture at
the invitation of Professor Pedro Clemente Marijuan
Fernandez. The content relates a novel perspective on the
mechanism of evolution from a cellular-molecular
vantage-point. I welcome any and all comments and criticisms
in the spirit of sharing ideas openly and constructively.
Best Wishes,<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>John S. Torday PhD<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Professor<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Evolutionary Medicine<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>UCLA<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">/div><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
-------------------------------------------------
Pedro C. Marijuán
Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group
Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud
Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Aragón (CIBA)
Avda. San Juan Bosco, 13, planta 0
50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Tfno. +34 976 71 3526 (& 6818)
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es" moz-do-not-send="true">pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/" moz-do-not-send="true">http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/</a>
------------------------------------------------- </pre>
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