Natural Selection, Specification and Common Ancestry
Posted in Natural Selection on July 1st, 2009 by BradfordBiological specification always denotes function.1 Biological changes are said to occur when genomic changes become fixed by natural selection. Change can be traced to a prior condition in which a biological function existed because it had selective value i.e. it conferred function which enhanced reproductive fitness. Mutations, which change protein properties, correlate to new functions or enhance already existing ones. There is a symmetry between protein properties and biological function. As one moves along a timeline encompassing a process, one can map different proteins to their respective functions. Natural selection gives rise to the changing events and connects them in the timeline. The match-up between proteins and their functions constitutes a physical specification which is linked to a specified quality. In the case of living things the quality that is specified in advance is… the ability to propagate genes in reproduction.2
