Extragenetic hereditary?
- From: dkomo <dkomo871@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:01:51 -0500 (EST)
The question about cellulose digestion and microrganisms was
prompted by the following quote:
"Not all replication is genetic replication; not all inheritance is
mediated through gene lineages. One clear example is the nongenetic
mechanisms by which symbionts are transmitted across generations. Many
organisms depend on symbiotic relations with creatures that live on or
in them. For example, no animal can digest cellulose, the material that
makes up plant cell walls. Animals that eat cellulose depend on
bacteria in their guts to digest the cell walls for them. Parents have
various ways of transmitting such symbiotic organisms to their
offspring. They pass across the generations whole functioning
populations of symbionts, not just symbiont DNA. This is not just true
of cellulose eaters. For example, many athropods transmit in their
eggs, sometimes by very precise mechanisms, microorganisms on which they
depend for growth. The queens of leafcutter ants have special
adaptations for carrying the symbiotic fungi they rely on for food when
they found new nests. All of these cases involve nongenetic
intergenerational copying, for more than symbiont DNA is passed across
the generations."
Sterelny and Griffiths, _Sex and Death_, p. 69
--dkomo@xxxxxxxx
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