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  1. Article ; Online: Responses to commentaries on "The gene: An appraisal".

    Baverstock, Keith

    Progress in biophysics and molecular biology

    2024  Volume 188, Page(s) 31–42

    Abstract: The central conclusions of "The Gene: An Appraisal" are that genetic variance does not underpin biological evolution, and, therefore, that genes are not Mendel's units of inheritance. In this response, I will address the criticisms I have received via ... ...

    Abstract The central conclusions of "The Gene: An Appraisal" are that genetic variance does not underpin biological evolution, and, therefore, that genes are not Mendel's units of inheritance. In this response, I will address the criticisms I have received via commentaries on that paper by defending the following statements: 1. Epistasis does not explain the power-law fitness profile of the Long-Term Evolution Experiment (LTEE). The data from the evolution of natural systems displays the power-law form ubiquitously. Epistasis plays no role in evolution. 2. The common characteristics of living things (natural systems) are described by the principle of least action in de Maupertuis's original form, which is synonymous with the 2nd law of thermodynamics and Newton's 2nd law of motion in its complete form, i.e., F = dp/dt. Organisms strive to achieve free energy balance with their environments. 3. Based on an appraisal of the scientific environment between 1880 and 1911, I conclude that Johannsen's genotype conception was perhaps, the only option available to him. 4. The power-law fitness profile of the LTEE falsifies Fisher's Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, Johannsen's genotype conception, and the idea that 'Darwinian evolution' is an exception to the generic thermodynamic process of evolution in natural systems. 5. The use of the technique of genome-wide association to identify the causes and the likelihoods of inherited common diseases and behavioural traits is a 'wild goose chase' because genes are not the units of inheritance.
    MeSH term(s) Genome-Wide Association Study ; Phenotype ; Genotype ; Entropy ; Thermodynamics ; Biological Evolution
    Language English
    Publishing date 2024-02-14
    Publishing country England
    Document type Journal Article
    ZDB-ID 209302-9
    ISSN 1873-1732 ; 0079-6107
    ISSN (online) 1873-1732
    ISSN 0079-6107
    DOI 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2024.02.002
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  2. Article ; Online: The Gene: An appraisal.

    Baverstock, Keith

    Progress in biophysics and molecular biology

    2023  Volume 186, Page(s) e73–e88

    Abstract: The gene can be described as the foundational concept of modern biology. As such, it has spilled over into daily discourse, yet it is acknowledged among biologists to be ill-defined. Here, following a short history of the gene, I analyse critically its ... ...

    Abstract The gene can be described as the foundational concept of modern biology. As such, it has spilled over into daily discourse, yet it is acknowledged among biologists to be ill-defined. Here, following a short history of the gene, I analyse critically its role in inheritance, evolution, development, and morphogenesis. Wilhelm Johannsen's genotype-conception, formulated in 1910, has been adopted as the foundation stone of genetics, giving the gene a higher degree of prominence than is justified by the evidence. An analysis of the results of the Long-Term Evolution Experiment (LTEE) with E. coli bacteria, grown over 60,000 generations, does not support spontaneous gene mutation as the source of variance for natural selection. From this it follows that the gene is not Mendel's unit of inheritance: that must be Johannsen's transmission-conception at the gamete phenotype level, a form of inheritance that Johannsen did not consider. Alternatively, I contend that biology viewed on the bases of thermodynamics, complex system dynamics, and self-organisation, provides a new framework for the foundations of biology. In this framework, the gene plays a passive role as a vital information store: it is the phenotype that plays the active role in inheritance, evolution, development, and morphogenesis.
    Language English
    Publishing date 2023-12-02
    Publishing country England
    Document type Published Erratum
    ZDB-ID 209302-9
    ISSN 1873-1732 ; 0079-6107
    ISSN (online) 1873-1732
    ISSN 0079-6107
    DOI 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2023.11.001
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  3. Article: Evolution in two parts: as seen in a new fram ework for biology.

    Baverstock, Keith

    Theoretical biology forum

    2022  Volume 115, Issue 1-2, Page(s) 71–83

    Abstract: The case has been made that the-gene-centric approach to biology, which has prevailed over the past ~100 years, should be replaced by a fundamental framework based on the cell being a far from equilibrium complex dissipative system, regulated and ... ...

    Abstract The case has been made that the-gene-centric approach to biology, which has prevailed over the past ~100 years, should be replaced by a fundamental framework based on the cell being a far from equilibrium complex dissipative system, regulated and governed by its phenotype (1, 2), the metaphor for which is a brain. This independent attractor (IA) model is a radical departure from the conventional view based on Wilhelm Johannsen's genotype-conception which has prevailed since 1910. In this prevailing paradigm the gene and the genotype are fundamental in accounting for inheritance, evolution, development, and morphogenesis: the phenotype, upon which natural selection is deemed to act, plays little or no role in these crucial aspects of biology. Here I discuss how the process of evolution might be viewed under the IA model. Based on empirical evidence, evolution can be seen as a two-part process, one part based on thermodynamics and resulting in increased resilience to perturbation of the cellular phenotype (conditioning), and the other part, based on agency exhibited by the evolving organisms. A crucial open question is: should we view the realisation of the phenotype as a matter for biochemistry, or physics.
    MeSH term(s) Phenotype ; Genotype ; Selection, Genetic ; Biochemistry ; Biology
    Language English
    Publishing date 2022-01-01
    Publishing country Italy
    Document type Journal Article
    ZDB-ID 2624471-8
    ISSN 1825-6538 ; 2282-2593 ; 0035-6050
    ISSN (online) 1825-6538
    ISSN 2282-2593 ; 0035-6050
    DOI 10.19272/202211402005
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  4. Article ; Online: The gene: An appraisal.

    Baverstock, Keith

    Progress in biophysics and molecular biology

    2021  Volume 164, Page(s) 46–62

    Abstract: The gene can be described as the foundational concept of modern biology. As such, it has spilled over into daily discourse, yet it is acknowledged among biologists to be ill-defined. Here, following a short history of the gene, I analyse critically its ... ...

    Abstract The gene can be described as the foundational concept of modern biology. As such, it has spilled over into daily discourse, yet it is acknowledged among biologists to be ill-defined. Here, following a short history of the gene, I analyse critically its role in inheritance, evolution, development, and morphogenesis. Wilhelm Johannsen's genotype-conception, formulated in 1910, has been adopted as the foundation stone of genetics, giving the gene a higher degree of prominence than is justified by the evidence. An analysis of the results of the Long-Term Evolution Experiment (LTEE) with E. coli bacteria, grown over 60,000 generations, does not support spontaneous gene mutation as the source of variance for natural selection. From this it follows that the gene is not Mendel's unit of inheritance: that must be Johannsen's transmission-conception at the gamete phenotype level, a form of inheritance that Johannsen did not consider. Alternatively, I contend that biology viewed on the bases of thermodynamics, complex system dynamics and self-organisation, provides a new framework for the foundations of biology. In this framework, the gene plays a passive role as a vital information store: it is the phenotype that plays the active role in inheritance, evolution, development, and morphogenesis.
    MeSH term(s) Databases, Genetic ; Escherichia coli ; Genetics ; Genotype ; Phenotype ; Selection, Genetic
    Language English
    Publishing date 2021-05-09
    Publishing country England
    Document type Journal Article
    ZDB-ID 209302-9
    ISSN 1873-1732 ; 0079-6107
    ISSN (online) 1873-1732
    ISSN 0079-6107
    DOI 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2021.04.005
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  5. Article ; Online: Commentary on: Brownian Ratchets of Life: Stochasticity Combined with Disequilibrium Produces Order.

    Baverstock, Keith

    BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology

    2019  Volume 41, Issue 12, Page(s) e1900175

    MeSH term(s) Stochastic Processes
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-10-30
    Publishing country United States
    Document type Journal Article ; Comment
    ZDB-ID 50140-2
    ISSN 1521-1878 ; 0265-9247
    ISSN (online) 1521-1878
    ISSN 0265-9247
    DOI 10.1002/bies.201900175
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  6. Article: Crick's sequence hypothesis - a review.

    Baverstock, Keith

    Communicative & integrative biology

    2019  Volume 12, Issue 1, Page(s) 59–64

    Abstract: Health care based on gene sequencing and genomics is increasingly becoming a reality: it is timely to review Crick's sequence hypothesis for its fitness for this purpose. The sequence hypothesis is central to the prediction and correction of disease ... ...

    Abstract Health care based on gene sequencing and genomics is increasingly becoming a reality: it is timely to review Crick's sequence hypothesis for its fitness for this purpose. The sequence hypothesis is central to the prediction and correction of disease traits from gene sequence information. Considerable success in this respect has been achieved for rare diseases, but for the dominant part of the human disease burden, common diseases, little progress has been made since the completion of the sequencing of the human genome. It is argued here that the sequence hypothesis, namely the assumption that peptides will fold spontaneously to the native state protein, thus retaining the information coded in the originating genes, is not supported by a realistic physics-based assessment of the peptide to protein folding process.
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-03-24
    Publishing country United States
    Document type Journal Article ; Review
    ZDB-ID 2451097-X
    ISSN 1942-0889
    ISSN 1942-0889
    DOI 10.1080/19420889.2019.1594501
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  7. Article ; Online: Polygenic scores: Are they a public health hazard?

    Baverstock, Keith

    Progress in biophysics and molecular biology

    2019  Volume 149, Page(s) 4–8

    Abstract: I argue here that polygenic scores are a public health hazard because the underlying methodology, genome wide association, from which they are derived, incorrectly assumes that the information encoded in the genomic DNA sequence is causal in terms of the ...

    Abstract I argue here that polygenic scores are a public health hazard because the underlying methodology, genome wide association, from which they are derived, incorrectly assumes that the information encoded in the genomic DNA sequence is causal in terms of the cellular phenotype. This is not so when the cell is viewed from the perspective of a) fundamental physics, b) the protein chemistry that characterises the cellular cytoplasm and c) the fundamental requirement for evolution to yield unlimited species diversity.
    MeSH term(s) Base Sequence ; Cytoplasm/genetics ; Cytoplasm/metabolism ; Genome ; Genome-Wide Association Study/methods ; Humans ; Multifactorial Inheritance/genetics ; Mutation ; Phenotype ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Public Health
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-08-06
    Publishing country England
    Document type Journal Article ; Review
    ZDB-ID 209302-9
    ISSN 1873-1732 ; 0079-6107
    ISSN (online) 1873-1732
    ISSN 0079-6107
    DOI 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2019.08.004
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  8. Article ; Online: Commentary on: Cause of Cambrian explosion - Terrestrial or Cosmic?

    Baverstock, Keith

    Progress in biophysics and molecular biology

    2018  Volume 136, Page(s) 25–26

    MeSH term(s) Biological Evolution ; Explosions ; Phylogeny
    Language English
    Publishing date 2018-03-13
    Publishing country England
    Document type Letter ; Comment
    ZDB-ID 209302-9
    ISSN 1873-1732 ; 0079-6107
    ISSN (online) 1873-1732
    ISSN 0079-6107
    DOI 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2018.03.006
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  9. Article ; Online: Crick’s sequence hypothesis - a review

    Keith Baverstock

    Communicative & Integrative Biology, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 59-

    2019  Volume 64

    Abstract: Health care based on gene sequencing and genomics is increasingly becoming a reality: it is timely to review Crick’s sequence hypothesis for its fitness for this purpose. The sequence hypothesis is central to the prediction and correction of disease ... ...

    Abstract Health care based on gene sequencing and genomics is increasingly becoming a reality: it is timely to review Crick’s sequence hypothesis for its fitness for this purpose. The sequence hypothesis is central to the prediction and correction of disease traits from gene sequence information. Considerable success in this respect has been achieved for rare diseases, but for the dominant part of the human disease burden, common diseases, little progress has been made since the completion of the sequencing of the human genome. It is argued here that the sequence hypothesis, namely the assumption that peptides will fold spontaneously to the native state protein, thus retaining the information coded in the originating genes, is not supported by a realistic physics-based assessment of the peptide to protein folding process.
    Keywords peptide folding ; misfolded proteins ; mutation ; gwas ; moonlighting proteins ; maximum entropy ; chaperones: native state ; Biology (General) ; QH301-705.5
    Subject code 612
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Taylor & Francis Group
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  10. Article ; Online: Letter in response to Pfinder et al on the efficacy of the WHO guidelines on iodine prophylaxis.

    Baverstock, Keith

    Journal of radiological protection : official journal of the Society for Radiological Protection

    2017  Volume 37, Issue 4, Page(s) 955–956

    MeSH term(s) Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; Iodine ; Radioactive Hazard Release ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule
    Chemical Substances Iodine (9679TC07X4)
    Language English
    Publishing date 2017-11-13
    Publishing country England
    Document type Journal Article ; Comment
    ZDB-ID 639411-5
    ISSN 1361-6498 ; 0952-4746
    ISSN (online) 1361-6498
    ISSN 0952-4746
    DOI 10.1088/1361-6498/aa870d
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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