Kumar's gene saturation theory on evolution
Prof. Kumar Arunachalam
Sunday, 16 August 2009 05:38 UTC
How will a new theory on evolution be accepted or rejected, or
debated? What could be the outcome of a newer look in the content and
impact on current stands on evolutionary biology? Here is a very
simplistic model on evolution, a purely hypothetical one, that may
set the debate rolling.
On a hypothetical basis, imagine just an individual with a very
limited number of genetic characteristics in its chromosomal make-up.
Say 1 & 2. If this pool finds fusion with another of its ilk, another
3 & 4, the results could be 13,14, 23, 24, 31, 41, 32 or 42; put
simply, any random combination of any two of the four original
genetic traits drawn from two individuals. Now if the offspring
unite, say 13 with any other, the results should be yet another
random combination of the original traits of the eight sets of
uniting genes. Let us go on thus, each duo combining, at every
generation with every other duo in the pool. The population growth is
exponential.
Now that we know that only 1,2, 3, and 4 are the originals and all
other generations are combinations of the four, soon enough,
mathematically at least, all possible permutations and combinations
will be reached within a given span of time, dependent on the rate,
age and frequency of multiplication of the particular species.
That is, within a certain finite time frame, all possible
combinations are exhausted, and by inference, any new offspring now
spawned, will be a repeat or replica or clone of any one of the
existing or extant members of the species. Soon enough, a point will
b reached whence every other member of the particular species will be
replicas, either in genotype or phenotype, and in extreme, both, to
every other individual in the pool. A critical `gene-saturation’
stage is attained. The particular species, say crow, becomes all
black. Every crow becomes black. And all crows look alike; If the
original gene pool was just 1,2,3 and 4 in crows, then all crows
would not only look alike, but also behave and react alike. They
simply do not, because the original pool is much wider in gamut, and
despite the phenotype reaching the `gene saturation’ point, the
genotype for behavior and other traits have yet to exhaust their
combination inputs.
The crow population survives and grows, but a
time will come when all crows become clones of all others. The
species is then doomed. A single virus, or illness could wipe out the
entire species. This has happened, and does quite frequently (as
evidenced in phyto-clonal monocultures). And how does nature
countenance the early onset of `saturation’? It just induces
mutation. Not random, or accidental, but selective and incidental
mutation. Just a single mutation of a single characteristic in one
chromosome of the offspring pool, now opens up an entire new range of
permutations and combinations. The species survives, and possibly
forms sub-species, or newer ones too in the process. A crow with a
white patch is not an odd ornithological specimen; it probably
represents a mutant bearing bird trying to introduce a new set of
phenotype into the population for its own survival against the a
looming `saturation’ stage.
Everything in nature and life is finite, for it is mathematical. If
nature fails in its attempt to engineer mutation at the appropriate
juncture, annihilation and extinction are results. Dinosaurs or
dodos, not only lost, but were considered too stupid to survive too.
The mutations required to keep them alive, were either too late in
their introduction, or too weak in their potency.
At first glance, do not all Japanese and Chinese look alike? Is not
most of Africa black and Asia brown? A phenotype saturation stage is
operating here. Don’t all lemmings commit mass suicide? Does not one
sheep follow another? A `behaviour saturation’ stage? Maybe?
Evolution may not just be a sequentially programmed survival of
species, it may yet be a case of simple mathematics applied in the
right proportion, at the right time.
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Replies
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It is yet to be shown that “right kind of mutations” are generated “at the right time” by nature in order to save species from extinction. If this was true, the dinosaurs or the dodos would have survived. In a sense you are contradicting your self.
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Dear Ramakrishnan Neeliyath,
Thanks for the input. The saturation hpothesis is just that, a hypothesis, till mor eis known: however, I disagree with your dinosuar / dodo extinction anology in this context. For me the dodos didnt go extinct, they were wiped out by man – but here again they could be wiped out. On dinosaurs, here is what I had written earlier elsewheere.
___________________________________________________________http://dr-arunachalam-kumar.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/11/where-have-all-the-men-gone-an-unusual-essay-on.htm
Where have all the men gone? (An unusual essay on extinction of dinosaurs)
Nov 29 2007One of the more frequently aired commercial breaks on TV, is the one on a new luxury car brought out by Maruti-Suzuki. The punch-line in the ad is ‘Where have all the men gone?’ The question led me to some contemplation, an offshoot from my mental exercises has been this write-up: as will be evident anon, the theme discussed here is neither on automobiles or advertisement jingles, but on evolutionary biology – a topic as remote from the thrust of the TV spot as is chalk from cheese – thence, coming to chalk, which is a form of chemical salt, much like basalt, it sets me musing over a recent new research conducted by scientists from the Princeton University, which has identified the titanic Deccan Plateau upheavals and lava flows as one of the prime, if not the only, cause for mass extinction of dinosaurs.
The size and period of the basaltic eruptions over south central India, overlaps or jels with the era when mass extinctions of the gigantic lizards. While the meteorite crash theory lobbyists (both the meteor impacts, the Chicxulub of Yucatan and Shiva meteor of India have been implicated as the extra-terrestrial gatecrashers) look for ‘from the sky above’ cause for extinction, the Deccan Plateau upheaval and eruption backers, has espoused the ‘from below the earth’ theory.
From remote cosmos or from an earth core or crust, the fact remains, drastic and prolonged climate and atmospheric fluctuations engendered by any or all the above factors, is presumed to have wiped out a majority of life on earthy, both floral and faunal – the most and singular and spectacular of the disappearances, being that of the dinosaurs. Although the event(s) ascribed to extinctions were both catastrophic and cataclysmic, was the wipe out of the terrestrial giant populations worldwide, as quick, sudden and immediate as assumed? In the immediate aftermath of these events, factors that helped wipe out entire species, were intense heat, noxious gases, polluting chemicals, acid rain and increased levels of carbon dioxide
In the light of data emerging from the field and laboratories on a new, but proven observations on Temperature Variation Dependant Sex Determination. Time and again, in reptilians (crocodiles, turtles, agamids) it has been demonstrated that alterations in ambient hatching temperatures on eggs, influences sexing and hormonal levels in early embryos. Is it not inferable that dinosaurs clutches, of the K-T era, exposed to drastic shifts and variations in atmospheric temperature levels, produced only either male or female hatchlings? Could the dramatic changes in ambient temperatures caused by natural disasters have led to emergence of a dinosaur population of same sex? In this scenario, within a few generations, one or other sex would have dwindled in numbers or totally wiped out, leading to a chaotic or maybe violent mate hunting for a period, followed by a time of total eradication of one or the other sex, in geographically isolated dinosaur populations the world over.
An animal that ruled like an emperor over land on three continents or more, suddenly finds itself disabled from procreating – millions of years of reign comes to an agonizing and bizarre end. Death of a species, extinction of a form – all because some cosmic or earth core disruption has altered the ambient temperature of the world by a few degrees. I can imagine a whole host of male T. Rexes desperately searching for a male. Thousands of miles away, in another faraway continent, gasping female Rexes, pine as they scour the landscape, muttering “Where have all the men gone?”
© Dr. Arunachalam Kumar., all rights reserved.
________________________________________________________http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/01/insects_finished_of_the_dinosa.html#comment-91407| January 9, 2008 06:21 PM
Interesting! yet, I am a bit skeptical – why and how only dinosaurs got ‘bugged’. In another hypothesis*, I have proposed that climate change due to meteorite / Deccan eruption impact, the Temperature Dependent Sex Ration of dinosaur eggs, altered to uni-sexual mode, generating only male or female offspring, whcih directly led to their total extermination. Even minor, but prolonged ambient temeprature change can and will, alter gender in many reptilian eggs.
*Arunachalam Kumar: where have all the men gone? Dinosaur extinction:nathistoryindia / Princeton.Edu
Posted by: Prof. Arunachalam Kumar | January 15, 2008 12:39 PM
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