The EES expands what is recognized as causally relevant in the process of evolution
(link opens pdf) www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.20356.1412604225!/suppinfoFile/514164a_s1.pdf
Excerpt: “organisms inherit a wide variety of materials from their ancestors, including epigenetic marks, hormones, symbionts, learned knowledge and skills, and ecological legacies”
My comment: That is how organisms ecologically adapt. If there were not details of the RNA-mediated link from the epigenetic landscape to the physical landscape of DNA in species from microbes to man, the following statement would still represent a perspective that is not biologically based.
My comment: RNA-directed DNA methylation links ecological variation to ecological adaptations via RNA-mediated events, which include the nutrient-dependent amino acid substitutions that differentiate all cell types in all tissues of all organs of all organ systems. If not for across species examples that link the epigenetic landscape to the physical landscape of DNA in species from microbes to man and the manifestations of the RNA-mediated links in morphological and behavioral phenotypes, evolutionary theorists and evolutionary theists could truthfully claim: “…that evolutionary biologists have been studying feedback between organisms and the environment for well over a century13.” Instead, they continue to misrepresent the fact that they understand nothing about “feedback between organisms and the environment”.
If ever they learn about the nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled RNA-mediated events that clearly link ecological variation to increasing organismal complexity manifested in biodiversity, the theorists and theists will come face to face with what has been known about cell type differentiation for more than 40 years. “…the so-called alpha chains of hemoglobin have identical sequences of amino acids in man and the chimpanzee, but they differ in a single amino acid (out of 141) in the gorilla.” (p-127)
The molecular mechanisms that link the epigenetic landscape to the physical landscape of DNA via RNA-mediated events have become clear enough to link nutrient stress and social stress from ecological variation to ecological adaptations and biodiversity without claims about mutations, natural selection, or the evolution of biodiversity. See, for instance, H3S28 phosphorylation is a hallmark of the transcriptional response to cellular stress reported as:
Start signal for transcription of stressed genes identified
Excerpt 1): “…stress is “a psychological and physical reaction to external stimuli…”
My comment: “The newer and often redefined terms for pheromones limit the use of what is now known about their epigenetic effects, which are also associated with social stress on adaptively evolved socio-cognitive niche construction (Flinn, Nepomnaschy, Muehlenbein, & Ponzi, 2011; O’Connell & Hofmann, 2011, 2012; Whiten & Erdal, 2012). For example, social stress (see for review McEwen, 2012, 2013) associated with the absence of pheromones (Niwa et al., 2013) or with their presence and aggression (Barik et al., 2013) is as likely as nutrient-dependent stress associated with food acquisition to alter hormones and behavior during development. That is because the epigenetic effects of nutrient stress associated with food odors and the epigenetic effects of social stress associated with pheromones occur via the GnRH-controlled pathway, which includes both HPG axis and HPA axis regulation.” Kohl (2013)
Excerpt 2): “The study has not only identified histone phosphorylation as a hallmark of stress-activated genes, but also the mechanism by which this chromatin mark induces transcription of these genes on a molecular level.”
Identification of what occurs at the molecular level of stress-induced gene activation clearly links RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions to cell type differentiation in the context of Nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled ecological adaptations: from atoms to ecosystems as detailed in this 5.5 minute long video presentation of Nutrient-dependent / Pheromone-controlled adaptive evolution: (a mammalian model of thermodynamics and organism-level thermoregulation)
Claims that evolutionary theorists and evolutionary theists study or understand “feedback between organisms and the environment” can be addressed in the context of reports that link nutrient-stress via RNA-mediated transgenerational epigenetic inheritance to pheromone-controlled biodiversity without continuing to tout pseudoscientific nonsense.
See:
Starvation-Induced Transgenerational Inheritance of Small RNAs in C. elegans;
Signaling Crosstalk: Integrating Nutrient Availability and Sex
System-wide Rewiring Underlies Behavioral Differences in Predatory and Bacterial-Feeding Nematodes
Feedback loops link odor and pheromone signaling with reproduction
See also for the importance of nutrient-dependent amino acid substitutions to cell type differentiation:
