Question Regarding Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of horizontal gene transfer as mentioned in Richard Dawkins' book The Blind Watchmaker. Participants explore the implications of gene incorporation from one species to another, particularly in the context of plants and their evolution. The conversation touches on biological mechanisms and seeks additional resources for further understanding.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses fascination with Dawkins' mention of gene incorporation from other species and seeks resources to understand this phenomenon better.
  • Another participant suggests searching for "horizontal gene transfer plants" to find relevant literature, indicating that this process may be more common than Dawkins implies.
  • References to specific papers are provided, including a hypothesis that challenges Dawkins' assertion about the uniqueness of hemoglobins in the pea family.
  • A further resource is shared regarding a host species maintaining a complete copy of a parasite genome, which may relate to the discussion of gene transfer.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the specifics of horizontal gene transfer, with some suggesting that Dawkins may not be entirely correct. Multiple viewpoints on the prevalence and implications of gene transfer remain present in the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the potential for differing interpretations of the term "horizontal gene transfer" and the varying levels of evidence supporting the claims made by participants. The discussion also reflects a reliance on specific studies that may not be universally accepted.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for individuals interested in evolutionary biology, genetics, and the mechanisms of gene transfer between species, particularly those with a background in mathematics or physics seeking to understand biological concepts.

CJ2116
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Hi everyone,

I'm currently reading Richard Dawkins' book The Blind Watchmaker and there is one part that had me really fascinated, but wasn't really explored in detail that much.

On page 249 he writes:

Duplication within the species isn't the only means by which the number of cooperating genes has increased in evolution. An even rarer, but still possibly very important occurrence, is the occasional incorporation of a gene from another species, even an extremely remote species. There are, for example, haemoglobins in the roots of plants of the pea family. They don't occur in any other plant families, and it seems almost certain that they somehow got into the pea family by cross infection from animals, viruses perhaps acting as intermediaries.

I know that some organisms (like anglerfish that use bio-luminescent bacteria, for example) can use other organisms in their own biochemistry, but I wasn't aware that a "cross infection", as he puts it, could occur.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some additional resources that explore this topic in detail? Preferably at the "pop science" level as my background is in math and physics, not biology!

Thanks!
 
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I'm not sure what Dawkins had in mind, but searching for "horizontal gene transfer plants" on Google turned up http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...l+gene+transfer+on+plant+colonization+of+land (paper is free using the PMC link at the top right of the page). The introduction of the paper could provide some leads.

Arredondo-Peter and Escamilla point to a hypothesis by Appleby et al that Dawkins may not be right on this point, and that there may be hemoglobins in other other plants. Some more current work seems to be described in http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19704508 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23600702.
 
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Excellent, thanks for the reply - knowing the name of what he's talking about should help narrow down the results!