Acquiring Genomes

by Margulis, Lynn; Sagan, Dorion

• ISBN13: 9780465043910
• ISBN10: 0465043917
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-06-01
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

In this groundbreaking book, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan present an answer to one of the enduring mysteries of evolution--the source of inherited variation that gives rise to new species. Random genetic mutation, long believed to be the main source of variation, is only a marginal factor. As the authors demonstrate in this book, the more important source of speciation, by far, is the acquisition of new genomes by symbiotic merger. The result of thirty years of delving into a vast, mostly arcane literature, this is the first book to go beyond--and reveal the severe limitations of--the "Modern Synthesis" that has dominated evolutionary biology for almost three generations. Lynn Margulis, whom E. O. Wilson called "one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology," and her co-author Dorion Sagan have written a comprehensive and scientifically supported presentation of a theory that directly challenges the assumptions we hold about the variety of the living world.

Author Biography

Lynn Marguis is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Ernst Mayr
Preface	xv
PART ONE. THE EVOLUTIONARY IMPERATIVE
Darwinism Not Neodarwinism	3	(22)
Darwin's Dilemma	25	(26)
Relative Individuality	51	(16)
The Natural Selector	67	(4)
Principles of Evolutionary Novelty	71	(10)
PART TWO. THE MICROBE IN EVOLUTION
Species and Cells	81	(8)
History of the Heritable	89	(34)
PART THREE. PLANETARY LEGACY
Gaian Planet	123	(16)
Eukaryosis in an Anoxic World	139	(26)
PART FOUR. CONSORTIA
Seaworthy Alliances	165	(20)
Plant Proclivities	185	(6)
Chromosome Dance: The Fission Theory	191	(10)
Darwin Revisited: Species in the Evolutionary Dialogue	201	(6)
Glossary	207	(12)
References	219	(6)
Acknowledgments	225	(4)
Index	229