LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Lynn Margulis: Evolution
built 615 days ago
In reference to the Gaia Hypothesis, Lynn Margulis has been Lovelock's principal collaborator for twenty-five years. She is an expert on the role that microorganisms play in evolution. In the late 1960's, at the same time that the Gaia Hypothesis was first being stated, Margulis first put forward her creative theory of endosymbiosis. And very much like the Gaia Hypothesis when it was first formulated, the concept was so new and required such a degree of leading edge specialised information, that it was often completely misunderstood - not only by researchers in unrelated fields, but ... by her peers.
Source:
Lynn Margulis is one of the leading scientists in the field of microbiology. Her contributions to biology and evolutionism are many. Amonst others, of particular significance is her Serial Endosymbiosis Theory, and her defence of the Gaia Theory and of Symbiogenesis.
Source:
[W]hat may be one of the more important roles played by endosymbiogenesis (as far as the process of evolution is concerned) is something which Lynn Margulis was initially rather opposed to: symbiosis involving viruses, such as endogenous retroviruses. For example, it appears that at least three species of endogenous retroviruses are responsible for creating a barrier to the mother’s immune system in the placenta... protecting the embryo and making possible larger mammalian brains, and that a number of endogenous retroviruses are expressed in much of normal embryonic tissue development. Likewise, in a broad sense, lateral gene transfer may be viewed as resulting in a form of symbiosis. And if (as appears to be the case) retroelements (such as retrotransposons) are generally the relics of past retroviral infections, then it would appear that endosymbiosis plays an important direct role in evolution, its plays an equally important albeit indirect role through retrotransposition. Likewise, transposons are most likely the relics of viral infection – specifically, by single-stranded DNA viruses. Along these lines, two books which may be of interest are “Viruses and the Evolution of Life” and “Retroviruses and Primate Evolution.”
Source:
Lynn Margulis attended the University of Chicago as an undergraduate, and received her Ph.D. in 1963 from UC Berkeley. In 1966, as a young faculty member at Boston University, she wrote a theoretical paper entitled The Origin of Mitosing Eukaryotic Cells.[2] The paper ... was "rejected by about fifteen scientific journals," Margulis recalled.[3] It was finally accepted by The Journal of Theoretical Biology and is considered today a landmark in modern endosymbiotic theory. Although it draws heavily on symbiosis ideas first put forward by mid-19th century scientists and by Merezhkovsky (1905) and Wallin (1920) in the early-20th century, Margulis's endosymbiotic theory formulation is the first to rely on direct microbiological observations (as opposed to paleontological or zoological observations which were previously the norm for new works in evolutionary biology). The paper was initially heavily rejected, as symbiosis theories had been dismissed by mainstream biology at the time. Weathering constant criticism of her ideas for decades, Margulis is famous for her tenacity in pushing her theory forward, despite the opposition she faced at the time.
Source:
It has been nearly thirty years since Lynn Margulis first published a book on the origin of eukaryotic cells. Since that time, biology has undergone extraordinary changes. The most noticeable change is the extensive accumulation of sequence data for both nucleic acids and proteins. The collection of new data will undoubtedly lead to continuous revision of the serial endosymbiosis theory of the origin of the eukaryotic cell. Despite the uncertain future, the crucial foundation has been laid. Symbiosis is now accepted by the scientific community as an important factor in generating evolutionary change.
Source:
As Lynn Margulis chipped away at refinement of the endosymbiotic theory of cell development and evolution, she always managed to find time to turn her mind to other issues and research areas. In the last few decades some of Lynn Margulis's works include: The Origin of Eukaryotic Cells (1970), Early Life (1981), and Symbiosis in Cell Evolution (2d ed., 1993). She is ... the coauthor, with Karlene V. Schwartz, of Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth (2d ed., 1988), and with Dorion Sagan of Microcosmos (1986), Origins Of Sex (1986), and Mystery Dance (1991).
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Evolution