The paper under consideration is an article titled as “Diversity Revealed: From Atoms to Traits”. This text was authored by David M. Kingsley and was published in the Scientific American Magazine on December 18th, 2008. The paper is based on Charles Darwin’s theory of random variations and how scientists in the contemporary scenario have built up on that to divulge how diversity comes up from alterations in the DNA and how it leads to the complexity in creatures or perhaps even cultures.
The topic on DNA and analysis of life forms is quite similar to the arguments presented by the author. He rightly places his critics “By sequencing various organisms and their offspring, then looking for any spontaneous changes in the long chain of DNA letters passed from generation to generation, scientists have clearly shown that such mutations do occur fairly regularly” (Kingsley, 3). This way the author makes himself aligned with the modern development on the parameters of natural selection.
Darwin suggested that all living organisms had descended from a single or perhaps a few unique types. He proposed that organisms gradually start altering and diversifying and this was a very natural course. The species, which possessed trait variants, which were conducive in the surroundings it lived in, would produce, continue to exist in a more flourishing manner as compared to the species with inappropriate variants. Thus, these beneficial traits would accrue eventually by an anticipated practice of “natural selection.” The article points out that his theory met with huge appreciation but at the same time was subject to some criticism too.
Particularly interesting in Kingsley’s paper is the explanation of how the discovery of DNA helped reveal the theory of variation. Darwin endorsed the concept of blending inheritance that put forward the scheme in which the progeny exhibit intermediary attributes of their parents. However, Darwin acknowledged that the assumption had a drawback for the reason that if traits actually blended, then all uncommon new variants would be gradually diluted generation by generation. James D. Watson and Francis Crick came up with a structure for the DNA molecule, which had dramatic repercussions on the understanding of heredity and variation. They proposed that DNA, a two-stranded helix, had a backbone consisting of recurring chains of sugar and phosphate. The two strands of the polymer were joined by the balanced combination of four probable chemical bases: adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine (A, C, G, T), which form the base of the genetic language. This DNA arrangement advocated a likely physical foundation for spontaneous variation. Spontaneous alterations within genomes amount to immense diversity within a single class of organisms.
Darwin in his theory of natural selection did not explain how and why variants occurred. The paper states that contemporary scientists have been successful in explaining why variations occur through spontaneous alterations in DNA. However, the solution to “how” those transformations explain trait differentiations is more intricate and is still a dynamic field of exploration with significance that go beyond evolution investigations. One generalization evolutionary scientists make about the temperament of variation is that one generally cannot easily identify the genetic roots of a trait variant. The author goes on to cite examples of different experiments to demonstrate the Molecular understanding of trait differences. These substantiate the fact that random variations can led to notable distinctions within organisms, and if the alterations prove to be beneficial, it would be preserved by the process of natural selection.
The author then explains some of the differences within the human race like light-colored variants and nutrition related adaptations by means of changes in the DNA. He mentions that critics of the Darwinian theories 150 years ago argued that valuable new traits could never originate from straightforward random variation. However, modern science can demonstrate that an assortment of spontaneous DNA sequence modification takes place each time a composite genome is transferred from parents to the offspring.
The article is well organized and provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the relevant topic. It carefully attempts to define the terms the reader might not be familiar with to ease the process of understanding. It first introduces Darwin’s point of view and explains the criticisms he faced at the time of the publication of his theory. It then goes on to explain the relevance of the theories in today’s world and its implications after the advances in evolutionary science achieved 150 years later. Overall, the article makes an excellent read for people interested in the subject and substantiates its opinion by citing various examples of different experiments carried out in the relevant fields.
Works Cited:
Kingsley, David M. “Diversity Revealed: From Atoms to Traits”. Scientific American Magazine. 2008. Scientific American.