2008/12/01 by Mary Jane West‐Eberhard · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Philosophy and History of Science #Evolution and Science Education #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1086/594533
openalex publication_date 2008/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/07
Darwin proposed that evolutionary novelties are environmentally induced in organisms “constitutionally” sensitive to environmental change, with selection effective owing to the inheritance of constitutional responses. A molecular theory of inheritance, pangenesis , explained the cross-generational transmission of environmentally induced traits, as required for evolution by natural selection. The twentieth-century evolutionary synthesis featured mutation as the source of novelty, neglecting the role of environmental induction. But current knowledge of environmentally sensitive gene expression, combined with the idea of genetic accommodation of mutationally and environmentally induced change, supports a revival of Darwin's original theory that is consistent with modern molecular and population genetics.