Dos objeciones a la teoría del gen egoísta

Autores

  • Julián Bohórquez Carvajal Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
  • Reinaldo Bernal Velásquez Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2023.e85023

Palavras-chave:

teoría del gen egoísta, unidad de selección, replicador genético, Richard Dawkins, epigenética

Resumo

Presentamos dos objeciones a la teoría del gen egoísta formulada por Richard Dawkins, según la cual la selección natural opera sobre replicadores genéticos. Estas objeciones se dirigen hacia tres de las características esenciales de dicha teoría. La primera característica consiste en la exclusividad que, de acuerdo con la teoría, tienen los replicadores genéticos como objetos de la selección natural. La denominamos “cláusula de exclusividad”. Las características segunda y tercera corresponden a dos criterios que los replicadores genéticos deben satisfacer para que la teoría se sostenga. Los denominamos “criterio de estabilidad” y “criterio de fidelidad”. La primera objeción que presentamos consiste en señalar que, en virtud de los hallazgos de la epigenética transgeneracional, los replicadores genéticos no parecen satisfacer la cláusula de exclusividad y algunos de ellos tampoco parecen cumplir con el criterio de estabilidad. La segunda objeción es que la existencia de los fenómenos moleculares conocidos como splicing alternativo y trans-splicing parece implicar que muchos replicadores genéticos no satisfacen ni el criterio de estabilidad ni el de fidelidad.

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2023-12-27

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