Pattern pluralism and the Tree of Life hypothesis
Pattern pluralism and the Tree of Life hypothesis
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0610699104
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发表时间：
2007-02-13
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Bapteste, Eric
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Doolittle, W. Ford;Bapteste, Eric
达尔文声称，所有生物之间基于相似性和差异性的独特的包容性等级关系模式[生命之树（TOL）]是自然的事实，进化，特别是带有修改的分支过程是其解释。然而，没有独立的证据表明，自然秩序是一个包容性的层次结构，并纳入原核生物到TOL是特别成问题的。我们可以从中构建一个包括原核生物在内的普遍层次结构的唯一数据集，基因序列，经常不一致，很少能被证明是一致的。层次结构总是可以通过设计的算法强加在这些数据集上或从中提取出来，但在其基础上，通用TOL依赖于一个未经证实的关于模式的假设，考虑到我们对过程的了解，这不太可能是广泛正确的。这并不是说生物体之间的相似性和差异性不能用进化机制来解释，但带有变异的遗传只是这些机制之一，单一的树状模式并不是它们集体运作的必然（或预期）结果。模式多元主义（承认不同的进化模型和关系的表示对于不同的分类群、不同的规模或不同的目的是适当的和真实的）是一种有吸引力的替代方案，以取代对单一的真正TOL的堂吉诃德式追求。
Darwin claimed that a unique inclusively hierarchical pattern of relationships between all organisms based on their similarities and differences [the Tree of Life (TOL)] was a fact of nature, for which evolution, and in particular a branching process of descent with modification, was the explanation. However, there is no independent evidence that the natural order is an inclusive hierarchy, and incorporation of prokaryotes into the TOL is especially problematic. The only data sets from which we might construct a universal hierarchy including prokaryotes, the sequences of genes, often disagree and can seldom be proven to agree. Hierarchical structure can always be imposed on or extracted from such data sets by algorithms designed to do so, but at its base the universal TOL rests on an unproven assumption about pattern that, given what we know about process, is unlikely to be broadly true. This is not to say that similarities and differences between organisms are not to be accounted for by evolutionary mechanisms, but descent with modification is only one of these mechanisms, and a single tree-like pattern is not the necessary (or expected) result of their collective operation. Pattern pluralism (the recognition that different evolutionary models and representations of relationships will be appropriate, and true, for different taxa or at different scales or for different purposes) is an attractive alternative to the quixotic pursuit of a single true TOL.