Open Access
Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
The theory that biological species are descended from common ancestors provides an indispensable heuristic to understand why living organisms are what they are and do what they do.Abstract:
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution, quipped Theodosius Dobzhansky. The theory of evolution argues that each biological species was not suddenly and independently created but that all life forms are interrelated by virtue of having descended from common ancestors through the accumulation of modifications. Indeed, nothing we know about living organisms would make any sense if they were not so interrelated. And the theory that biological species are descended from common ancestors provides an indispensable heuristic to understand why living organisms are what they are and do what they do.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Phylogenomics and the reconstruction of the tree of life.
TL;DR: This work has demonstrated the power of the phylogenomics approach, which has the potential to provide answers to several fundamental evolutionary questions, but challenges for the future have also been revealed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Genomics of Actinobacteria: Tracing the Evolutionary History of an Ancient Phylum
Marco Ventura,Carlos Canchaya,Andreas Tauch,Govind Chandra,Gerald F. Fitzgerald,Keith F. Chater,Douwe van Sinderen +6 more
TL;DR: An account of the recent explosion of actinobacterial genomics data is provided and an attempt to place this in a biological and evolutionary context.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biodemography of human ageing.
TL;DR: Research by demographers, epidemiologists and other biomedical researchers suggests that further progress is likely to be made in advancing the frontier of survival — and healthy survival — to even greater ages.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reactive Astrocytes in Neural Repair and Protection
TL;DR: Recent studies point toward roles for reactive astrocytes in restricting inflammation and protecting neurons and oligodendrocyte, thereby helping to limit tissue degeneration and preserve function after CNS injury.
Journal ArticleDOI
Retroviral restriction by APOBEC proteins
TL;DR: A powerful mechanism of vertebrate innate immunity has been discovered in the past year, in which APOBEC proteins inhibit retroviruses by deaminating cytosine residues in nascent retroviral cDNA, which might help to tip the balance in favour of cellular defences.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Phylogenomics and the reconstruction of the tree of life.
TL;DR: This work has demonstrated the power of the phylogenomics approach, which has the potential to provide answers to several fundamental evolutionary questions, but challenges for the future have also been revealed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Genomics of Actinobacteria: Tracing the Evolutionary History of an Ancient Phylum
Marco Ventura,Carlos Canchaya,Andreas Tauch,Govind Chandra,Gerald F. Fitzgerald,Keith F. Chater,Douwe van Sinderen +6 more
TL;DR: An account of the recent explosion of actinobacterial genomics data is provided and an attempt to place this in a biological and evolutionary context.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biodemography of human ageing.
TL;DR: Research by demographers, epidemiologists and other biomedical researchers suggests that further progress is likely to be made in advancing the frontier of survival — and healthy survival — to even greater ages.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reactive Astrocytes in Neural Repair and Protection
TL;DR: Recent studies point toward roles for reactive astrocytes in restricting inflammation and protecting neurons and oligodendrocyte, thereby helping to limit tissue degeneration and preserve function after CNS injury.
Journal ArticleDOI
Retroviral restriction by APOBEC proteins
TL;DR: A powerful mechanism of vertebrate innate immunity has been discovered in the past year, in which APOBEC proteins inhibit retroviruses by deaminating cytosine residues in nascent retroviral cDNA, which might help to tip the balance in favour of cellular defences.