Attracting Abundance

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The Law

Belief - XXIII

Cells have evolved over millions of years.

We have learnt that cells are categorized into two types, mainly defined by whether they have a nucleus. Prokaryote cells lack a nucleus whereas Eukaryote cells contain a nucleus which separates the genetic material from the cytoplasm. In spite of the differences, the basic molecular mechanism that governs the life of these cell is same. This indicates to the same ancestry or primordial source for all present day cells.

It is estimated that the first life emerged about 3.8  billion years ago, almost 750 million years after earth was formed. Life began in the form of single cell bacteria, algae. The single cell phase continued for the next 2.5 to 3 billion years. Around 750 million years ago, multi-cellular life in the form of plants and animals, appeared on this planet. the initial multi-cellular life forms were loose colonies of single cells with very little co-ordination between them. This loose colony did not support a collective awareness of the environment. Hence the survival of the initial multi-cellular life forms was at risk. The single cells, for their survival, learnt the work together and the team work within the cells started evolving. The work load was divided among different groups of cells so that groups specialized in discharging specialized functions. these multi-cellular groups formed tissues and muscles and organs. This distribution of work load became all the more necessary as larger and more complex multi-cellular organisms started to take shape, with the human being at the top of the ladder of complexity. The specialized functions started to get built in the embryo stage. With the changes in environmental conditions and experiences, the genetic codes and organelles in the cells evolved further bringing about changes in tissues and organs.

It is obvious that the more complex a system becomes, greater is the need for assigning specialized functions to specialized groups and also close co-ordination and co-operation between these groups. Imagine the chaos that would be created if a CEO tried to operate a large corporation singly. Without the co-operation and co-ordination between the groups, no progress or evolution can occur in a corporate or in a complex organism like a human being. Progress can not occur by conflict and violence and struggle. This is where the neo-Darwinists went wrong when the they propounded the theory of "survival of the fittest". I am of the opinion that this Darwinian line becomes complete on addition pf a few words to the credo. The complete statement should be "survival of the fittest to survive" . And this fitness for survival gets a boost when by a co-operative mode of working between all stakeholders involves and not by violence between the stakeholders. When such co-operation exists, the level of awareness of the environment goes up all across the corporate or the organism. These is good communication going on all around. Better decisions are concluded and adopted to cope with the changes in the environment. Better  legacies are left for the next generation.

This is what Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829), a french biologist and an early proponent

Lamarck

of the idea that evolution follows natural laws, postulated almost five decades before Darwin came up with his theory of evolution. Many believe, and their numbers are rising as modern research is unfolding the truth, that Lamarck was the pioneer and visionary in evolutionary theory. Lamarck was the first to suggest that human beings evolved from lower life forms over a large period of time. The Darwinian postulate on evolution went against this when he suggested that evolution was due to random reasons which means that evolution happens accidentally. Lamarck was also the first to postulate that organisms acquire adaptations to survive and pass on the adaptations to their progeny.

To the church and the scientific community of the day, Lamarck's utterances were blasphemy and sacrilege. They, together, vilified Lamarck and brought him to disrepute. The research work on epigenetics in the last two decades is revealing truths which are in line with Lamarckian postulates. With the availability of modern facilities at their disposal, scientists are discovering the subtle chemical changes in DNA and DNA-associated proteins that happen due to adaptations to changes in environmental signals  and that they pass on to their daughter cells without changing the basic structure of DNA.

Surprise of surprises, the research in the last decade is also pointing to another pathway which helps in evolution. It is now being revealed that gene transfer is not only a intra-organism phenomena (within the organism) during reproduction of cell, but also a inter-organism phenomena (between organisms). ( Dutta et al, Journal of Bioscience, Pennisi, 2004, Science). This puts a lot more responsibility on the genetic engineers. After this revelation it should be borne in mind that when an organism, say a plant, is being genetically modified, its effect is not limited to that species alone, but it affects other species too and that effect may come in forms not known to anyone. The world is global. Whatever threatens the survival of one organism, threatens the survival of other organisms too. This gives us some understanding as to why the ecosystem of the globe is such disarray. Touch one, and your touch affect the other. Nothing is in isolation. 

Towards the end of his life, Darwin acknowledged the mistake he had made by under emphasizing on the impact of environment on the character of life. Unfortunately, the very followers who idolized him, ignored his realization citing old and probable senility of the great scientist. Therefore the belief that heredity controlled the character of life continued to be ruling thought. The genes remained all powerful. The fatalistic view on life that an individual was helpless to control his life continued. So if someone suffered from ailments, it was the genes and not because of any other emotional, mental or physical imbalances.

If we take an objective view, it is true that a single cell deficiency dose cause some illnesses, such as cystic fibrosis, Huttington's chorea and a few more. It is also a fact that only 1 to 2% of the total population is cursed with a singe-gene deficiency. The other 98 to 99% suffer, not from inherited deficiencies, but from deficiencies created of their own making, by complex interaction among multiple genes and the quality of those interactions, arising out of environmental stresses.

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