scholarly journals The natural selection of metabolism explains curvature in fossil body mass evolution

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Witting

AbstractThe natural selection of metabolism and mass can explain inter-specific allometries from prokaryotes to mammals (Witting 2017a), with exponents that depend on the selected metabolism and the spatial dimensionality (2D/3D) of intra-specific behaviour. The predicted 2D-exponent for total metabolism increases from 3/4 to 7/4 when the fraction of the inter-specific body mass variation that follows from primary variation in metabolism increases from zero to one.A 7/4 exponent for mammals has not been reported from inter-specific comparisons, but I detect the full range of allometries for evolution in the fossil record. There are no fossil data for allometric correlations between metabolism and mass, but I estimate life history allometries from the allometry for the rate of evolution in mass (w) in physical time (t).The exponent describes the curvature of body mass evolution, with predicted values being: 3/2 (2D) for within niche evolution in small horses over 54 million years. 5/4 (2D) and 9/8 (3D) for across niche evolution of maximum mass in four mammalian clades. 3/4 (2D) for fast evolution in large horses, and maximum mass in trunked and terrestrial mammals. 1 for maximum mass across major life-forms during 3.5 billion years of evolution along a metabolic bound.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Witting

AbstractInter-specific body mass allometries can evolve from the natural selection of mass, with ±1/4 and ±3/4 exponents following from the geometry of intra-specific interactions when density dependent foraging occurs in two spatial dimensions (2D, Witting, 1995). The corresponding values for three dimensional interactions (3D) are ±1/6 and ±5/6.But the allometric exponents in mobile organisms are more diverse than the prediction. The exponent for mass specific metabolism tends to cluster around −1/4 and −1/6 in terrestrial and pelagic vertebrates, but it is strongly positive in prokaryotes with an apparent value around 5/6 (DeLong et al., 2010). And a value around zero has been reported in protozoa, and on the macro evolutionary scale from prokaryotes over larger unicells to multicellular vertebrates (Makarieva et al., 2005, 2008).I show that mass specific metabolism can be selected as the pace of the resource handling that generates net energy for self-replication and the selection of mass, and that this selection of metabolism and mass is sufficient to explain metabolic exponents that decline from 5/6 over zero to −1/6 in 3D, and from 3/4 over zero to −1/4 in 2D. The decline follows from a decline in the importance of mass specific metabolism for the selection of mass, and it suggestsi) that the body mass variation in prokaryotes is selected from primary variation in mass specific metabolism,ii) that the variation in multicellular animals are selected from primary variation in the handling and/or densities of the underlying resources,iii) that protozoa are selected as an intermediate lifeform between prokaryotes and multicellular animals, andiv) that macro evolution proceeds along an upper bound on mass specific metabolism.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Witting

AbstractI show that the natural selection of metabolism and mass is selecting for the major life history and allometric transitions that define lifeforms from viruses, over prokaryotes and larger unicells, to multicellular animals with sexual reproduction.The proposed selection is driven by a mass specific metabolism that is selected as the pace of the resource handling that generates net energy for self-replication. This implies that an initial selection of mass is given by a dependence of mass specific metabolism on mass in replicators that are close to a lower size limit. A maximum dependence that is sublinear is shown to select for virus-like replicators with no intrinsic metabolism, no cell, and practically no mass. A maximum superlinear dependence is instead selecting for prokaryote-like self-replicating cells with asexual reproduction and incomplete metabolic pathways. These self-replicating cells have selection for increased net energy, and this generates a gradual unfolding of a population dynamic feed-back selection from interactive competition. The incomplete feed-back is shown to select for larger unicells with more developed metabolic pathways, and the completely developed feed-back to select for multicellular animals with sexual reproduction.This model unifies natural selection from viruses to multicellular animals, and it provides a parsimonious explanation where allometries and major life history transitions evolve from the natural selection of metabolism and mass.


1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-264
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Rychlak

2003 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth S. Kessler ◽  
S. Mark Spearing

ABSTRACTEmbedded structural health monitoring systems are envisioned to be an important component of future transportation systems. One of the key challenges in designing an SHM system is the choice of sensors, and a sensor layout, which can detect unambiguously relevant structural damage. This paper focuses on the relationship between sensors, the materials of which they are made, and their ability to detect structural damage. Sensor selection maps have been produced which plot the capabilities of the full range of available sensor types vs. the key performance metrics (power consumption, resolution, range, sensor size, coverage). This exercise resulted in the identification of piezoceramic Lamb wave transducers as the sensor of choice. Experimental results are presented for the detailed selection of piezoceramic materials to be used as Lamb wave transducers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Yun Lin ◽  
Hui-Ying Huang ◽  
Xue-Yan Liang ◽  
Dong-De Xie ◽  
Jiang-Tao Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Thrombospondin-related adhesive protein (TRAP) is a transmembrane protein that plays a crucial role during the invasion of Plasmodium falciparum into liver cells. As a potential malaria vaccine candidate, the genetic diversity and natural selection of PfTRAP was assessed and the global PfTRAP polymorphism pattern was described. Methods 153 blood spot samples from Bioko malaria patients were collected during 2016–2018 and the target TRAP gene was amplified. Together with the sequences from database, nucleotide diversity and natural selection analysis, and the structural prediction were preformed using bioinformatical tools. Results A total of 119 Bioko PfTRAP sequences were amplified successfully. On Bioko Island, PfTRAP shows its high degree of genetic diversity and heterogeneity, with π value for 0.01046 and Hd for 0.99. The value of dN–dS (6.2231, p < 0.05) hinted at natural selection of PfTRAP on Bioko Island. Globally, the African PfTRAPs showed more diverse than the Asian ones, and significant genetic differentiation was discovered by the fixation index between African and Asian countries (Fst > 0.15, p < 0.05). 667 Asian isolates clustered in 136 haplotypes and 739 African isolates clustered in 528 haplotypes by network analysis. The mutations I116T, L221I, Y128F, G228V and P299S were predicted as probably damaging by PolyPhen online service, while mutations L49V, R285G, R285S, P299S and K421N would lead to a significant increase of free energy difference (ΔΔG > 1) indicated a destabilization of protein structure. Conclusions Evidences in the present investigation supported that PfTRAP gene from Bioko Island and other malaria endemic countries is highly polymorphic (especially at T cell epitopes), which provided the genetic information background for developing an PfTRAP-based universal effective vaccine. Moreover, some mutations have been shown to be detrimental to the protein structure or function and deserve further study and continuous monitoring.


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