3 ms·

There does not have to be genetic information for evolution. Evolution only requires "descent with modification". DNA is a mechanism for this, but it is not ne

• hannasanarion 6y ago
  And prions don't have descent with modification. It's a regular mammal brain protein that got accidentally constructed backwards. There's nothing to pass on, nothing to modify.
  • DetroitThrow 6y ago
    Err, I think I remember a couple pretty famous articles that contradicts that prions generally don't have descent with modification, which may be what the person above us is referring to: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20044542/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20044542/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17142317/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17142317/
    • im3w1l 6y ago
      That's really neat. Still there should be a limited number of possible variants right? Like the energy landscape is fixed and will only admit so many possibilities?
  • ced 6y ago
    FWIW Wikipedia says: > Prion replication is subject to epimutation and natural selection just as for other forms of replication, and their structure varies slightly between species.[19] [19] is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848070 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848070
  • Ericson2314 6y ago
    descent without modification sounds pretty hard to achieve for all but the simplest things.