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The neo-Darwinian theory of evolution is built upon the central dogma of molecular biology which states that information flow is unidirectional from DNA to RNA to protein. Random, gradual mutations combined with Darwinian natural selection have been the standard model of evolutionary theory since the early part of the 20th century. And since the discovery of DNA in 1953, the mutations have been ascribed to random copying errors of the DNA.
But now the central dogma of molecular biology is defunct. Ninety percent of the human genome is found to be the product of reverse transcriptase, the protein that synthesizes DNA from an RNA template. A genetic framework has been discovered in bacteria that enables the horizontal transfer of DNA segments.
And changes that appear in the DNA are found to be not so random, but constrained to favor specific sequences. Furthermore, a bacterial genome is suspected to have survived for hundreds of millions of years.
Rather than relying on random changes, genomes apparently have a few tricks in store to alter the genome when it is advantageous. With the discovery of molecular machinery that promotes changes in certain directions, the genome has the appearance of having been designed to evolve.
In my presentation, I will investigate the tricks of the genome, and how they relate to the downfall of neo-Darwinism.
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