Untangling Molecular Biodiversity

Untangling Molecular Biodiversity presents a unique global framework to explain molecular and organismal biodiversity that is grounded in evolutionary genomics. This book will tackle important questions such as the origin of life, the emergence of biochemistry, the origin of viruses, the nature of the last universal common ancestor responsible for diversified life, the role of information and thermodynamics in evolution, the reason for having three cellular domains in life, and the centrality of modules in biology.This book will explore six themes: (1) Explanatory frameworks for biological organization; (2) Evolutionary patterns and biodiversity; (3) Molecular structure and evolutionary genomics; (4) A framework of persistence strategies that borrows from engineering and systems biology; (5) Use of this framework to explain diversity in the molecular world; and (6) Exploring the origin and evolution of cells and viruses.Consequently, this book represents a very unique collection of ideas that can attract the attention of a broad readership interested in life sciences/biology.Contents:Preface: Untangling molecular biodiversityList of ContributorsUnity: On Unity in Organisms and Its Evolution Memory: Retrodiction — Exploring the History of Parts and Wholes in the Biosystems of LifeLinkage: A 'Double Tale' of Module Creation in Evolving NetworksStructure: RNA Structure and Diversified LifeOrigins: It Takes a Well Rooted Trunk to Bear a Tree — Reductionist Models of Divergent Evolution and Further Aspects of RealityLanguage: The Language of Biomolecular CommunicationGrowth: Molecular Accretion, Growth and InnovationPersistence: A Model of Lineage Evolution Bbased on the Persistence Strategy H`ypothesisPanspermia: An Early Cellular Origin of VirusesComplexity: Some Considerations Towards a Predictive Theory of LifePower: Life as a Tendency to Go Beyond Itself — The Struggle for PowerTime: Temporal Parts and Biological ChangeForesight: Empedocles' On Nature, P. Strasb. Gr. Inv. 1665–6, a Theory of Networks and Evolutionary Growth ~2,400 Years Before DarwinIndex
Readership: Undergraduate students and graduate students in the field of life sciences; biologists; scientists; anyone interested in the origin of life and evolution.
Origin of Life;Molecular Diversity;Genomics;Structure;Evolution;Emergence;Levels of Organization;Biological Complexity;Domains of Life;Tree of Life;Roots of Life;Genealogy0Key Features:A unique perspective that merges evolution, bioengineering and structural biologyA number of central questions in biology, including the origin and evolution of biochemistry, molecular complexity and cellular organization, will be addressedThis book will provide insights into the emerging fields of evolutionary genomics and systems biology