[spsp-members] [PhilInBioMed Seminar] Alan Love (Minnesota) and Gunter Wagner (Yale), The Hierarchical Basis of Serial Homology and Evolutionary Novelty

[Thomas Pradeu]

PhilInBioMed SeminarAlan Love (Minnesota) and Gunter Wagner (Yale)"The
Hierarchical Basis of Serial Homology and Evolutionary Novelty"
October 18th, 2023, 5pm (Paris time, UTC+2) This talk will be online
Alan Love <https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/alan-c-love/home> is John M.
Dolan Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota (USA) and
Director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science. His research
focuses on conceptual issues in biology and has concentrated on
evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo), developmental biology,
molecular biology, and paleontology.

Günter Wagner <http://campuspress.yale.edu/wagner/> is a Professor of
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University
<https://medicine.yale.edu/bbs/people/gunter_wagner-2.profile>, USA and at
the Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Vienna. His main
research interest is the evolution of gene regulation as it pertains to the
origin of evolutionary novelties.

Both are members of the PhilInBioMed Network
<https://www.philinbiomed.org/network/>.
All details here:
https://www.philinbiomed.org/event/alan-love-gunter-wagner/

*Abstract*

Given the pervasiveness of gene sharing in evolution and the extent of
homology across the tree of life, why is everything not homologous with
everything else? The continuity and overlapping genetic contributions to
diverse traits across lineages seem to imply that no discrete determination
of homology is possible. Although some argue that the widespread overlap in
parts and processes should be acknowledged as “partial” homology, this
threatens a broad base of presumed comparative morphological knowledge
accepted by most biologists. Following a long scientific tradition, we
advocate a strategy of “theoretical articulation” that introduces further
distinctions to existing concepts to produce increased contrastive
resolution among the labels used to represent biological phenomena. We
pursue this strategy by drawing on successful patterns of reasoning from
serial homology at the level of gene sequences to generate an enriched
characterization of serial homology as a hierarchical, phylogenetic
concept. Specifically, we propose that the concept of serial homology
should be applied primarily to repeated but developmentally individualized
body parts, such as cell types, differentiated body segments, or epidermal
appendages. For these characters, a phylogenetic history can be
reconstructed, similar to families of paralogous genes, endowing the notion
of serial homology with a hierarchical, phylogenetic interpretation. On
this basis, we propose a five-fold theoretical classification that permits
a more fine-grained mapping of diverse trait-types. This facilitates
answering the question of why everything is not homologous with everything
else, as well as how novelty is possible given that any new character
possesses evolutionary precursors.

If you'd like to attend, please contact Thomas Pradeu
<thomas.pradeu at u-bordeaux.fr>.

Sincerely,

Thomas.

--
Thomas Pradeu
CNRS Research Director in Philosophy of Science
Immunology Unit ImmunoConcEpT, UMR5164, CNRS & University of Bordeaux
Presidential Fellow, Chapman University, CA, USA
Team Leader Conceptual Biology and Medicine Team
<https://immunoconcept.cnrs.fr/conceptual-biology-medicine/>
Coordinator of the Philosophy in Biology and Medicine Network
<https://www.philinbiomed.org/> (PhilInBioMed)
Université de Bordeaux
Bâtiment Bordeaux Biologie Santé, 3ème étage
2, rue Docteur Hoffman Martinot
33076 Bordeaux
& Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
<https://www.ihpst.cnrs.fr/en> Pantheon-Sorbonne University 13 rue du
Four, 75006 Paris, France
*Recent publications: *
- Reuniting philosophy and science to advance cancer research
<https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12971> (*Biological Reviews*, 2023)
- The origin of RNA interference: Adaptive or neutral evolution?
<https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001715> (*PLoS Biology* 2022)
- Cancer's second genome: Microbial cancer diagnostics and
redefining clonal evolution as a multispecies process
<https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.202100252> (*BioEssays*, 2022)
- Redrawing therapeutic boundaries: microbiota and cancer
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trecan.2021.10.008> (*Trends in Cancer*, 2022)
- Philosophy in Science: Can philosophers of science permeate through
science and produce scientific knowledge?
<https://doi.org/10.1086/715518>(Forthcoming
in the *BJPS*).
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