Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The former condition is needed to keep complex molecules stable in a varying and sometimes aggressive environment; the latter is fundamental for the evolution of biocomplexity. If freely floating molecules that code for enzymes are not enclosed in cells, the enzymes will automatically benefit neighboring replicator molecules as well.
Unlike in the case of normal cells, state switching in cancer cells is widely believed to arise due to somatic mutations. [4] However, there is growing concern that such a deterministic view of a phenomenon that is reversible is not entirely consistent with multiple lines of evidence which indicate that stochasticity may also play an important ...
Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. [1] [2] It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. [3]
In evolutionary biology, the term cellularization (cellularisation) has been used in theories to explain the evolution of cells, for instance in the pre-cell theory, [1] [2] [3] dealing with the evolution of the first cells on this planet, and in the syncytial theory [4] attempting to explain the origin of Metazoa from unicellular organisms.
In biology, evolution is the process of change in all forms of life over generations, and evolutionary biology is the study of how evolution occurs. Biological populations evolve through genetic changes that correspond to changes in the organisms ' observable traits .
Molecular evolution describes how inherited DNA and/or RNA change over evolutionary time, and the consequences of this for proteins and other components of cells and organisms. Molecular evolution is the basis of phylogenetic approaches to describing the tree of life. Molecular evolution overlaps with population genetics, especially on shorter ...
The functionality of LUCA as well as evidence for the early evolution membrane-dependent biological systems together suggest that LUCA had cellularity and cell membranes. [23] As for the cell's gross structure, it contained a water-based cytoplasm effectively enclosed by a lipid bilayer membrane; it was capable of reproducing by cell division ...
Also called functionalism. The Darwinian view that many or most physiological and behavioral traits of organisms are adaptations that have evolved for specific functions or for specific reasons (as opposed to being byproducts of the evolution of other traits, consequences of biological constraints, or the result of random variation). adaptive radiation The simultaneous or near-simultaneous ...