That raises a number of interesting questions. 1. Is there more survival advantage in a higher number of genes or in a lower number of genes? On the one hand Daphnia has a 50% greater chance of random mutation from external factors - on the other hand, Daphnia has a 50% greater chance of absorbing damage without mutation.
2. Since Daphnia is a non-vertebrate I'm going to assume it's ancestors evolved long before man. Does this mean life has evolved from more genes to less? 3. I believe that good engineering is as much about removing what is unnecessary as adding to a design. Is this proof of good engineering in evolution? 4. Alternately (and this gets into complexity), is the expression of genes in the living creature an emergent process? Does the number of genes have an effect on that emergence? Ray Parks From: Nicholas Thompson [mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 08:33 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Subject: [FRIAM] Daphnia's jeans Message: 2 From: National Science Foundation Update <nsf-upd...@nsf.gov<mailto:nsf-upd...@nsf.gov>> Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 14:47:36 -0600 (CST) Subject: The Most Genes in an Animal? Tiny Crustacean Holds the Record The Most Genes in an Animal? Tiny Crustacean Holds the Record<http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118530&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click> Thu, 03 Feb 2011 13:12:00 -0600 [cid:image001.jpg@01CBC446.3D1C22C0]Scientists have discovered that the animal with the most genes--about 31,000--is the near-microscopic freshwater crustacean Daphnia pulex, or water flea. By comparison, humans have about 23,000 genes. Daphnia is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced. The water flea's genome is described in a Science paper published this week by members of the Daphnia Genomics Consortium, an international network of scientists led by the Center for Genomics ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118530&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org<http://www.cusf.org/>
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