Concept of the Day: Directed Mutagenesis
Concept of the Day: Directed Mutagenesis
Directed Mutagenesis
The Daily Concept - Directed mutagenesis
This is an interesting hypothesis which challenges the standard theory of evolution and the mechanism through which evolution is achieved: random mutations. The directed mutagenesis hypothesis states that evolution occurs in a more "direct" way, that organisms have an innate tendency to evolve in a certain direction, towards a "goal".
In an experiment conducted in 1988, John Cairns grew the Escherichia Coli bacteria in a medium where lactose was the only source of energy (the bacteria lacks the ability to metabolize lactose), and found out that the bacteria evolved to metabolize lactose many times of magnitude faster than would be expected if the mutations were truly random. This experiment led John Cairns to believe that the mutations occurred in the direction of the genes responsible with lactose utilization.
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