1st Edition

The Genomic Potential Hypothesis A Chemist's View of the Origins, Evolution and Unfolding of Life

By Christian Schwabe Copyright 2001
    112 Pages 25 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    The Genomic Potential Hypothesis is a biochemist's view of the origin, evolution, and development of life. Large numbers are second nature to a biochemist and though he rarely ever thinks of it explicitly, the concept of mass action is a part of the definition of chemistry. The origin of life, from that perspective, will turn into an event that occurs on the molar scale in units of 1023 and is driven not by needs of biological systems but by mass action, energetics, structure, and kinetics. This approach to evolution entails the total denial of constructive accidents. Mutations are a reality and while most of them are of no consequence or detrimental, one cannot deny that on occasion a beneficial mutation might occur. However, to invoke strings of beneficial mutations that suffice to reshape one animal into the shape of another is not merely unreasonable, it is not science. Evolution will be restricted to the reorganization of nuclear material in line with equilibrium constants and kinetic parameters that govern the quasi two-dimensional chemistry of nucleic acids. The actual evolution occurs at the cellular level and is noted only by the results appearing in the fossil record as small versions of the final form.

    Preface, Introduction, 1. Life in a Tenuous Universe, 2. The Frame for New Hypotheses of Evolution, 3. Genomism and the Nature Trail, 4. The Origin of Complexity, 5. Our Young Planet: One Is Not a Choice, 6. The Condensation of Life, 7. The Origins of Species, 8. Development of Biological Potential, 9. Thoughts on Multicellularity: How Nature Got Around Darwin, 10. Natura NonFacit Saltum: Nature Does Nothing in Jumps, 11. The Invariance Concept, 12. On the Evolution of Humans, 13. Molecular Genealogy, 14. Experiments in Evolution, 15. Quintessence

    Biography

    Christian Schwabe, Department of Biochemistry, Medical University of South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A. Medical University of South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A.