Chapter category: Evolution

Molecular Geneology

This chapter appears in the following book:

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

Edited by: Christian Schwabe
ISBN: 1-58706-044-2
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Chapter authors:
Christian Schwabe

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Is it rational to expect proteins such as insulin, relaxin, hemoglobin, or cytochrome to have followed the evolutionary route of the organisms from which they were taken? Of course it is , but it does not follow a priori that protein structures would reveal relatedness between species.^{1, 2} The Genomic Potential Hypothesis predicts no branching of either species or proteins and since proteins within species are the same there is harmony between proteins, species, and reality. In contrast, the old model starts with a single origin and produces variety by continuous branching (changing genomes and hence proteins under continuous mutational pressure). While the proteins within species should still be alike, the proteins from neighboring species must show sequence differences proportional to the phylogenetic distance deduced from the fossils. Of course, the purpose of molecular genealogies is to deduce species’ relations from proteins and it is easy to imagine the turmoil created when proteins, such as pig relaxin, project a pattern of relatedness that is totally incompatible with the old branching model. Since an animal and its proteins are going through evolution (by any model) together, all proteins must give the same pattern of branching or no branching at all. Failure to meet this criterion means that no part of that hypothesis can survive.

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Chapter category: Evolution

Molecular Geneology

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