Biological Evolution Based on Nonrandom Variability Regulated by the Organism

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A. M. Olovnikov

Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Kosygina 4, 119334 Moscow, Russia; E-mail: olovnikov@dol.ru

Received November 1, 2009

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A hypothetical mechanism for rapid and nonrandom emergence of evolutionary adaptations is proposed. It is supposed that some transcription factors and transcription regulators that are able to cross membranes can leave the cells of their origin and move within the organism using a specialized transport system when individual development occurs under conditions extreme for the given species. This system, in particular, connects soma with germline. The supply of germline cells with unusual transcription regulators changes the balance of their nuclear regulatory RNAs, thus initiating RNA-dependent epigenetic modifications of the germline genome and therefore changes in phenotypes of the progeny. It is highly probable that some of these phenotypes are adaptive and lay the basis for the origin of the next biological species. The proposed mechanism can serve as a basis for a new theory of the origin of species.

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KEY WORDS: transcription factors, intercellular communications, speciation

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297909120177

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