Improved evolution hypothesis resolves fossil record

William Atkins
Sunday, 05 April 2009 19:18

Science - Biology

In what is being hailed as the largest potential advance in the evolutionary theory in over eight decades, Australian scientists with Murdoch University are calling transposable elements (TEs), or junk DNA, a key ingredient in the continuing survival of species. They also hypothesize that it resolves a discrepancy in the current evolutionary theory.


TEs, also called transposons, are sequences of DNA that have the ability to move to different positions within the genome of a cell—a process called transposition.

This process provides the ability of species to mutate (change) and to alter the amount of DNA in the genome; that is, provide the ability of species to evolve over time and to adapt to changing external and internal conditions.

Transposons, also called mobile DNA, were discovered by American geneticist Barbara McClintock, and she was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her important work in 1983.

In her work, she found that transposons (transposable elements, or TEs) are used to alter DNA inside of a living organism.

Dr. Wayne Greene, the program chair for the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Murdoch University (Perth, Australia), and Keith Oliver, his doctor of philosophy student (PhD), have announced this exciting new hypothesis.

The details of their work will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal BioEssays.

According to the Murdoch University article Shaking up the theory of evolution, “Their hypothesis, which argues that DNA junk is essential for evolution, may represent one of the biggest advances in evolutionary theory, since the 1930s.”

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