Acquiring Genomes: A Theory Of The Origins Of Species [Hardcover]

Lynn Margulis (Author), Dorion Sagan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 2002

In this groundbreaking book, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan present an answer to one of the enduring mysteries of evolution--the source of inherited variation that gives rise to new species. Random genetic mutation, long believed to be the main source of variation, is only a marginal factor. As the authors demonstrate in this book, the more important source of speciation, by far, is the acquisition of new genomes by symbiotic merger. The result of thirty years of delving into a vast, mostly arcane literature, this is the first book to go beyond--and reveal the severe limitations of--the "Modern Synthesis" that has dominated evolutionary biology for almost three generations. Lynn Margulis, whom E. O. Wilson called "one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology," and her co-author Dorion Sagan have written a comprehensive and scientifically supported presentation of a theory that directly challenges the assumptions we hold about the variety of the living world.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A challenger of the orthodox "neo-Darwinist" interpretation of evolution, microbiologist Margulis has made her professional mark touting an alternative: symbiogenesis. She and coauthor (and son) Sagan have presented their ideas in earlier popular works (What Is Life?, 1995), but never as vigorously as in this volume. Essentially, the debate between neo-Darwinists and Margulis hinges on the definition of a species, and the manner in which a new one appears. To Margulis and Sagan, the neo-Darwinist model, which asserts random gene mutation as the source of inherited variations, is "wildly overemphasized," and to support their view, they delve deeply into the world of microbes. They detail the anatomy of cells with and without nuclei, positing a process of genome ingestion that creates a new species. Surprisingly, the upshot of Margulis' theories is the rehabilitation of Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, whose theory that supposedly acquired traits are hereditary has been ridiculed for 150 years. Polemical and provocative, Margulis and Sagan's work should set many to thinking that evolution has not yet been completely figured out. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"One of the most stimulating and provocative books that I have read for a long while." -- Nature

"Polemical and provocative." -- Booklist --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (June 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465043917
• ISBN-13: 978-0465043910
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 83 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Radical New View of Evolution January 6, 2003

By Robert Adler

Format:Hardcover

Lynn Margulis has been a maverick all her life. Early in her career she shocked her biological colleagues by arguing that the mitochondria that power our cells and the chloroplasts that let plants transform solar into chemical energy once were free-living bacteria. As soon as scientists could isolate and decode the scraps of DNA in those vital organelles, they found that she was right. Margulis went on to develop her Serial Endosymbiosis Theory, which attempted to trace the development of all creatures with nucleated cells, from yeasts to humans, to a series of genetic mergers between different kinds of organisms. According to Margulis, all the familiar family trees of life, which show only diverging branches, are wrong. Ancient roots and current branches cross and merge to produce new species. To Margulis, nature is far more promiscuous and much more creative than most biologists dream.

Her new book, Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species, extends and deepens that argument. Margulis sets out to prove that new species rarely if ever appear as the result of mutation, isolation, genetic drift, or population bottlenecks--the meat and potatoes of neo-Darwinism. Instead she maintains that the major engine of evolutionary change, the source of most of the new forms that natural selection edits, is symbiogenesis--the acquisition of whole genomes as the result of symbiotic associations between different kinds of organisms. (Knowing that some people will seize on her thesis as an attack on the theory of evolution as a whole, Margulis makes it clear that she fully supports Darwin's great discovery of the mechanism of natural selection. She simply thinks that neo-Darwinists have failed to recognize the enormous creative power of genomic mergers.)

Readers who are familiar with Margulis' earlier works will recognize her vivid, personal and sometimes impressionistic writing style. I found this book, co-authored by her son, Dorion Sagan, to be clear and accessible. Starting with Chapter 9, where Margulis presents her latest ideas on the symbiotic origin of the nucleus itself, things get a bit more technical. Margulis makes every effort to help readers through the thicket of important, but at times tongue-twisting terms, and supplements explanations in the text with an excellent glossary. Margulis also presents the findings of several other researchers whose work supports or relates closely to her own.

Readers may or may not close the book convinced that Margulis is right and the neo-Darwinists are wrong. But they will come away with a vastly deeper understanding of the pervasive nature and power of the microbial world, and of symbiosis. Margulis reveals a hidden side of nature, in which microbes have generated most if not all of life's metabolic machinery, in which vastly different life-forms consort in a myriad of ways, and in which the acquisition of entire genomes provides the raw material for great evolutionary leaps. Anyone with a deep interest in biology will gain important insights from "Acquiring Genomes."

Robert Adler, author of Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation (Wiley & Sons, 2002).

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species November 13, 2002

By Joe Zika TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species written by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan will definitly open your eyes and is on the cutting edge of how species are formed.

This is one of those groundbreaking books that trys to answer one of Charles Darwin's long standing mysteries... how do species originate. Darwin could never quit put his finger on the answer, he was close and I'm sure with time and the right equipment, like what is available today, he might have even solved this nagging question.

Margulis has been working on this same question for the last thirty years and she makes a very convincing argument, symbiotic merger is the main thrust of her thesis in this book. This book has some real mind-spinning ideas and you'll have to know some biochemistry, biology, chemistry, cell-biology to prepare yourself for a provocative wild ride through this book as some of the material directly challenges the assumptions that we hold about diversity in the living world.

Margulis has for many years been the leader in the interpretation of evolutionary entities as the products of symbiogenesis. Symbiogenesis is the major theme of this book. The authors show convinvingly that an unexpectedly large proportion of the evolutionary lineages had their origins in symbiogenesis. Ok, I know some of you are saying what is symbiogenesis, well it's the combination of two totally different genomes form a symbiotic consortium which becomes the target of selection as a single entity. This is achieved by the mutual stability of the relationship, symbiosis differs from other cases of interaction such as carnivory, herbivory, and parasitism.

Now, that I've said all of that, you realize that this book can get pretty deep at times, but the author has a pleasent styled narrative, always keeping the reader involved. Prehaps the greatest merit of this book is that it introduces the reader to the fascinating world of microbes, delving into providing an enthralling description of protists and bacteria.

I found this book to be most enlightening about the enigma of evolutionary biology and how species are formed, comprehensive in scope and supported by scientific theory. This book will make you think. If you want to know about the cutting edge of evolutionary thinking then this is the book for you. To realize that everything on earth is inter-related and that life will carry on when faced with tragedy.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Evolutionary science needs more free thinkers August 8, 2002

By Jay A. Haron

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Acquiring Genomes will not appeal to all readers. First of all, the authors clearly have little use for current dogma, that is: local mutations in chromosomes fuel evolution and, particularly, speciation. I received my degree in Zoology back in a time when paleontologists called `em like they saw them, and lock-step conformity was a sign of a weak mind. I learned, in 1975, that there is precious little in the fossil record to support the concept of gradual evolution. Apparently, that has not changed.

Prof. Margulis' book also assumes a reader with a broad scientific background , largely in areas considered "old fashioned" in the 21st century. She demands an upper college level familiarity with invertebrate biology, physiology, microbiology, ultrastructure, biophysical chemistry, metabolic pathways and *GASP* thermodynamics. Then she integrates molecular biology and genomics, as needed, into the picture, to make a very convincing case for symbiogenesis. She also evokes wrath for bringing up the name of Jean Baptiste Lamarck, which is sure to raise a red flag in neodarwinist circles. Last, she does not refute the contribution of neodarwinists, she simply tries to put them in perspective.

The founding premise is that mutations constantly occur during the natural history of a species. Many experiments suggest 99% of these mutations are either silent or deleterious. Therefore, they probably cannot be counted on to drive evolution to improve on a species, let alone create new ones. Instead, a more likely pathway is for two species, with one bacterial, one eucaryotic, to coexist if it causes them to have a survival advantage when they do so. If it is in both organisms' best interest, this coexistance becomes more intimate, and can lead to the eucaryotic organism taking the smaller genome into its chromosome and making one very new and improved species. This, and many intermediate stages, are seen among invertebrates, such as Geosiphon pyriforme, a hybrid organism with a fungal (Endogone) and a cyanobacter (Nostoc) ancestor. The Geosiphon has retained the ability to fix carbon dioxide and nitrogen, receiving one multigene trait from one ancestor and the other from the partner species. Examples like this are why a reader needs a strong invertebrate biology background in order to appreciate these chimera.

She ends the discussion with another tantalizing mechanism, called the kinetichore reproduction theory. In this process, environmental stress can lead to an additional round of kinetichore - centromere reproduction in an organism's chromosomes which leads to twice as many half-sized acrocentric chromosomes. Fertilization where one donor has undergone this alteration still leads to diploid progeny, but the diversity generated is the engine for adaptive radiation of species.

Obviously, I am not ashamed to say I have bought into her arguments. If I were an academic scientist, I could have a field day testing some of her hypotheses. Instead, I am an industrial biochemist without the necessary time or manpower. That is the power of this book, however. It moves the receptive reader to want to take the bull by the horns and challenge or expand Margulis' hypotheses. She even suggests research strategies for potentially fruitful lines of inquiry.

Drs Margulis and Sagan have written a lightning-rod kind of book that will attract wrath from some, and heartfelt praise from others. If you feel indifferent toward this book, I suggest you reread it with a copy of an invertebrate biology reference book at your side.