Integrative Theory of Evolution - Aspects and Insights

This book sheds light on how the abundance of epigenetic regulations, RNA group interactions, the role of viruses and related infectious agents in cellular host organisms drive evolutionary processes. Rather than presenting a final Integrative Theory of Evolution, this book assembles aspects and insights from leading experts that must be incorporated into such a theory in order to better integrate current empirical knowledge than is achieved by models that still insist on the crucial role of replication errors as the main reason for genetic variability.

Since nearly a century the key narrative in evolutionary biology is founded on two principles: evolutionary relevant genetic variations are the result of error replication events (mutation) and natural selection. With the comeback of virology the role of viruses in the evolution of life lead to change our view on (a) how evolutionary relevant variations occur, (b) viruses as exclusively disease causing genetic parasites, (c) the definition of life itself. Empirical data of the last decades demonstrate that most viruses do not harm the host but settle host in a persistent way, remaining as exapted RNA networks known as mobile genetic elements and a variety of non-coding RNAs being essential in host gene regulations such as transcription, translation, immunity, repair and epigenetic (re)programming. Epigenetic programming determines each cell of every organism across all domains of life through epigenetic markings. If learned behaviors can be epigenetically inherited and lead to organisms that are better adapted, the error-replication (mutation) narrative is insufficiently complex to integrate this.