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Introduction: Protistan Biology, Horizontal Gene Transfer, And Common Descent Uncover Faulty Logic In Intelligent Design, Avelina Espinosa
Introduction: Protistan Biology, Horizontal Gene Transfer, And Common Descent Uncover Faulty Logic In Intelligent Design, Avelina Espinosa
Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications
THE International Society of Protistologists (ISOP) organized a pre-meeting workshop entitled ‘‘Horizontal Gene Transfer and Phylogenetic Evolution Debunk Intelligent Design,’’ as part of the 1st North American Section meeting held June 11–13, 2009, at Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, USA. This workshop focused on the acceptance of Darwinian evolution in the United States and the role of intelligent design (ID) in the ongoing controversy between scientific knowledge and popular belief. Intelligent design, a doctrine born in the 1980s, proposes that a ‘‘Designer’’ is responsible for the complexity in biological systems and that Darwinism cannot explain holistically the origin and evolution …
Integrating Horizontal Gene Transfer And Common Descent To Depict Evolution And Contrast It With ‘‘Common Design, Guillermo Paz-Y-Mino C., Avelina Espinosa
Integrating Horizontal Gene Transfer And Common Descent To Depict Evolution And Contrast It With ‘‘Common Design, Guillermo Paz-Y-Mino C., Avelina Espinosa
Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and common descent interact in space and time. Because events of HGT co-occur with phylogenetic evolution, it is difficult to depict evolutionary patterns graphically. Tree-like representations of life’s diversification are useful, but they ignore the significance of HGT in evolutionary history, particularly of unicellular organisms, ancestors of multicellular life. Here we integrate the reticulated-tree model, ring of life, symbiogenesis whole-organism model, and eliminative pattern pluralism to represent evolution. Using Entamoeba histolytica alcohol dehydrogenase 2 (EhADH2), a bifunctional enzyme in the glycolytic pathway of amoeba, we illustrate how EhADH2 could be the product of both horizontally acquired …