Endogenous Adaptive Mutagenesis (EAM)

Endogenous Adaptive Mutagenesis. (2005). ISCID Encyclopedia of Science and Philosophy. Retrieved October 30, 2005 from http://www.iscid.org/encyclopedia/Endogenous_Adaptive_Mutagenesis

Endogenous Adaptive Mutagenesis refers to an approach to evolutionary theory which finds its mechanism, (that is, the causal explanation for biological evolution), within the organism itself, not in any external agent.

EAM holds that adaptation is reactive - that is, that it does not begin until after the environment induces an adaptive reaction in the organism. Also, it begins precisely at that organic point where the environmental pressure is applied, not necessarily at that part of the organism known as the genome, unless that is where the pressure is being applied. EAM is, therefore, an 'adaptive' mechanism, not a 'selective' mechanism, (such as is the famous, Random Genetic Mutation plus Natural Selection). More importantly, adaptation and adaptive evolution are seen as intentional dynamic processes, rather than as accidental and coincidental, passively experienced, anomalous events.

EAM is a process that involves non-mechanical, non-physical, phenomena, such as self-awareness, cellular intelligence, memory, intention, and other aspects of 'mind'. These aspects exist to some extent in all life forms, but one aspect of human minds, i.e., conscious analytical thought, is seemingly reserved to Homo sapiens. These non-physical aspects guide and direct the behaviour of the organs, the cells, and the physical components within the cells. This requires a soma to germ cell line of communication, which is now acceptable thanks to recent evidence of the dissolution of 'Weismann's barrier', and the instability of Crick's 'Central Dogma'.

EAM requires that organisms use these mental phenomena to actively attempt to 'learn' to adapt, by means of a trial and error heuristic experience in which a 'best available solution' is sought to a specific 'problem'. Some solutions are sufficient, some aren't. This 'learning' can be inferred from observed effects, particularly in developmental biology. Comparisons with the immune system's network of cellular communications look promising. Biosemiotics offers insights into biological information systems. Meanwhile, 'Quorum Sensing' in bacteria and 'Collective Intelligence' in eusocial insects provide empirical support for 'organismic learning'.

[EAM] holds that every organism possesses intelligence to some degree, and that it uses that intelligence in an unconscious, instinctive way, to redesign itself and/or its behaviour, and that of its offspring, in the face of novel, crucial environmental demands. Ecological adaptedness , that is, balance between environmental pressure and an organism's capacities, replaces the 'competitive' Darwinian notion of differential 'fitness' between organisms, in the teleology of EAM.

Mike Turner

Additional Comments by M. Turner:

"The most important characteristic of this model is that it considers beneficial, (that is, adaptive), mutations, to be internally self-generated by the organism, and not by accidental, random changes to its genome. These self-generated, endogenous, mutations take place in the organism's morphology or behaviour prior to being recorded for posterity in the genome. Through epigenetic inheritance these changes may be preserved, "where changed ecological conditions persist", over several generations, until finally being coded into the genome itself. A variation of the 'Baldwin Effect' would be involved. This requires a soma to germ cell line of communication... It has not yet been conclusively demonstrated from direct observation, but, like gravity, can be inferred from observed effects..."

Links:

"Wired" discovers Endogenous Adaptive Mutagenesis
Your DNA Isn't Your Destiny, by Brandon Keim. Aug. 16, 2005

Endogenous Adaptive Mutagenesis at ARN.

Comments on "Endogenous Adaptive Mutagenesis".

Non-mechanical ontology in the explanation of organism and evolution. John J. Kineman and Jesse R. Kineman. Bear Mountain Institute .

Intelligence at the cellular level

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to The Baldwin Effect.

A 21st Century View of evolution

Adaptive developmental plasticity in snakes

Snakes challenge nature vs nurture debate

Other postings by mturner at ARN