Speaking of modularity, the cover picture for the current issue of PNAS ( http://www.pnas.org/content/106/34.cover-expansion) shows "two members of the Precambrian soft-bodied Ediacara biota displaying distinct modular construction".
And http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1000355discusses computer models that suggest that evolution to satisfy modularly varying goals induces modular systems. -- rec -- On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 8:16 AM, Nicholas Thompson < [email protected]> wrote: > Yes, this article is interesting, but will require study. Allow me a > quick comment based only on the abstrct. Given what we know from > evo-devo about how entangled is the process of intergeneratonal transfer, > modularity is indeed the new miracle of genetics. Given all the editing, > revisioning, and and just mucking about that characterizes the developmental > process, how is it that ANY traits end up be passed on to offspring? So, > once we see modularity as an achievement, rather than as "just the way > things are" then we have to ask the old George Williams question: how is it > that properties of the genome such as modularity can get selected for. > >
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