Laying Blame: Population vs. Consumption

[Iterate]

20. The Black Queen and leaky fuctions

The Black Queen Hypothesis: Evolution of Dependencies through Adaptive Gene Loss

J. Jeffrey Morrisa,b, Richard E. Lenskia,b, and Erik R. Zinserc

Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USAa;
BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, East Lansing, Michigan, USAb; and
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USAc

ABSTRACT

Reductive genomic evolution, driven by genetic drift, is common in endosymbiotic bacteria. Genome reduction is less common in free-living organisms, but it has occurred in the numerically dominant open-ocean bacterioplankton Prochlorococcus and “Candidatus Pelagibacter,” and in these cases the reduction appears to be driven by natural selection rather than drift. Gene loss in free-living organisms may leave them dependent on cooccurring microbes for lost metabolic functions. We present the Black Queen Hypothesis (BQH), a novel theory of reductive evolution that explains how selection leads to such dependencies; its name refers to the queen of spades in the game Hearts, where the usual strategy is to avoid taking this card. Gene loss can provide a selective advantage by conserving an organism’s limiting resources, provided the gene’s function is dispensable. Many vital genetic functions are leaky, thereby unavoidably producing public goods that are available to the entire community. Such leaky functions are thus dispensable for individuals, provided they are not lost entirely from the community. The BQH predicts that the loss of a costly, leaky function is selectively favored at the individual level and will proceed until the production of public goods is just sufficient to support the equilibrium community; at that point, the benefit of any further loss would be offset by the cost. Evolution in accordance with the BQH thus generates “beneficiaries” of reduced genomic content that are dependent on leaky “helpers,” and it may explain the observed nonuniversality of prototrophy, stress resistance, and other cellular functions in the microbial world.
http://mbio.asm.org/content/3/2/e00036-12.abstract

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120327094056.htm

I'm not ready to argue this article yet, but my sniffer thinks there's something interesting in it that is tangentially supportive.

What I know for now is that I'd rather not see this merely 400 generation experiment in civilization be left metaphorically hanging out with precambrian cyanobacteria. I like Shakespeare and would rather not see that effort discarded at the curb next to a McDi's wrapper, all for a burger eaten with the engine running.

Humans have enough stuff for the moment. There are enough buildings to get in out of the cold and rain. There is enough food for the moment. I suspect there's even enough clothing. Gawd knows there are enough roads. I'd rather not give up the hypodermic needle and the ambulance right now. It's not that I need them, but you never know.

Based only on my own life, I'd guess the industrial shutdown should be closer to 70%. If it was up to me, only coffee growers and Tuscan vintners would flourish. We can't ask any economists for a number though because they are all busy calculating 6th order derivatives for the debt market. They would be among the first to be re-employed for better purpose, as debt-driven growth must end.

But before anyone, anyone, will make the leap or the migration they need some reassurance that they won't be left behind. That means guaranteed employment, education, or maintenance, guaranteed healthcare, guaranteed housing. In means guaranteed participation for all. Otherwise the secondary human feedback kicks in with the resultant warfare and race for the last drop. Injustice is as carbon intensive as consumerism. For that reason, the support structures need to be set up as sectors are shutdown and eliminated or redesigned right down to the last atom and erg.

If that looks like a hard left turn, that's because it is. I loathe ideology, dogma, and boosterism and I'm advocating none of those. A healthy human ecosystem simply means building a mixed economy where multiple forms of exchange are open, but social support is the base. Note, I said support, as differentiated from consumption. IpodNext would be a while. First comes learning to live on a budget.