Lamarck believe that change occurs through use and disuse and
that these acquired characteristics would be passed to the next generations.
This concept differs from the modern biology ideal that complexity evolved due to
the necessity of life adapting to local conditions from one generation to the
next, and from the modern idea of inherence derived from Mendel. Furthermore,
Lamarck believe in spontaneous generation, an idea refuted by Pasteur who proved
life comes from biogenesis.
Some new finds have brought to light evidence that the acquired characteristics inheritance idea from Lamarck may have some truth to it. The idea of epigenetics shadow Lamarck's beliefs in a way that, for example, food or air pollution can leave a chemical mark on the DNA and override a gene, and this trait can be passed to the next generation.
Reference:
Early concepts of
Evolution: Jean Baptiste Lamarck. (n.d.). Retrieved February 03, 2021, from
https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/history_09
Ventana al Conocimiento (Knowledge Window) Scientific journalism Estimated reading time Time 4 to read, Ventana al Conocimiento (Knowledge Window) Scientific journalism, Window), V., & Journalism, S. (2018, September 06). What remains of Lamarck? Retrieved February 03, 2021, from https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/what-remains-of-lamarck/
Hi Victoria, I just read your blog and it reminded me of an article I read recently about epigenetics and the evolution of Darwin’s finches. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4159007/#evu158-B49
ReplyDeleteI skimmed through most of it actually, but I thought that it was very interesting to learn how epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of phenotypic variation plays an important role in evolutionary change.
Hi Victoria, I definitely agree that the way we live and everything we do can have an affect on our DNA. I think that these traits and heritable diseases can be considered as acquired characteristics within our lifetime that affect our offspring. It is very interesting to see the change in opinions among the scientific community as we acquire new evidence.
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