Abstracts

Genetic Bases of Biodiversity

Darwinian inherited variation is introduced by random mutations, whereas the Lamarckian theory assumes the direct influence of selective environmental agents on transmitted variation. One of the modern theories suggests a combined mechanism of evolution by Darwinian selection operating on variation introduced by between-generation transmission of acquired characters. There are three principal kinds of acquired characters that can be transmitted from parents to progeny:
- cultural and behavioral variation acquired via learning;
- epigenetic variation via changes in cellular structures;
- somatic mutations inserted in germ-line DNA.

I discuss how important these mechanisms might be for adaptive variation in and evolution of populations.

Literature used
Boyd, R., and P.J. Richerson. 1985. Culture and Evolutionary Process. The Univ. of Chicago Press. Chicago.
Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., and M.W. Feldman. 1981. Cultural Transmission and Evolution. Princeton Univ. Press.
Feldman, M.W., and L.A. Zhivotovsky. 1992. Gene-culture coevolution: toward a general theory of vertical transmission. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 11935-11938.
Jablonka, E., and M.J. Lamb. 1999. Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution. Oxford Univ. Press. Oxford.
Steele, E.J., R.A. Lindley and R.V. Blanden. 1998. Lamarck’s Signature. Preseus Books, Reading, MA.
Zhivotovsky, L.A. A model of the early evolution of soma-to-germline feedback. J. Theor. Biol. (subm.).

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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