1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910584597603321

Autore

Blackstone Neil W.

Titolo

Energy and Evolutionary Conflict : The Metabolic Roots of Cooperation / / by Neil W. Blackstone

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2022

ISBN

9783031060595

9783031060588

Edizione

[1st ed. 2022.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (125 pages)

Disciplina

612.39

576.85

Soggetti

Evolution (Biology)

Metabolism

Life - Origin

Evolutionary Biology

Evolutionary Theory

Origin of Life

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter. 1. Introduction -- Chapter. 2. Energy Conversion: How Life Makes a Living -- Chapter. 3. The puzzle of cooperation -- Chapter. 4. A Thumbnail Sketch of the History of Life -- Chapter. 5. Early insights: a fascination with metabolic gradients -- Chapter. 6. How can metabolism lead to groups? -- Chapter. 7. Chemiosmosis and the origin of eukaryotes -- Chapter. 8. Chemiosmosis and modern symbioses -- Chapter. 9. The evolution of multicellularity -- Chapter. 10. Metabolism and multicellularity revisited -- Chapter. 11. Metabolic vestiges of conflict mediation in modern biology -- Chapter. 12. Conclusions.

Sommario/riassunto

In the mid- to late-twentieth century, large scientific conflicts flared in two seemingly distinct fields of scientific inquiry. In bioenergetics, which examines how organisms obtain and utilize energy, the chemiosmotic hypothesis of Mitchell suggested a novel mechanism for energy conversion. In evolutionary biology, meanwhile, Wynne Edwards



strongly articulated the view that organisms may act for the “good of the group.” This work crystalized a long history of imprecise thinking about the evolution of cooperation. While both controversies have received ample attention, no one has ever suggested that one might inform the other, i.e., that energy metabolism in general and chemiosmosis in particular might be relevant to the evolution of cooperation. The central idea is nevertheless remarkably simple. Chemiosmosis rapidly converts energy, and once storage capacity is exceeded, an overabundance of product has various negative consequences. While to some extent chemiosmotic processes can be modulated, under certain circumstances it is also possible to simply disperse the products into the environment. This book argues that these two heretofore distinct scientific disciplines are connected, thereby suggesting that a ubiquitous process of energy conversion may underlie the evolution of cooperation and link major transitions in the history of life that have been regarded as mechanistically unrelated.