Scientists found a strange paradox in the theory of evolution

In various sciences, rules and laws help us make sense of the world around us; Whether these laws are applied in cosmic scales or in subatomic scales. In the realm of biology, however, the situation is a little more complicated, as nature is often full of biological exceptions, and for this reason, the laws of biology are considered more generalizations than absolute truths that explain and govern all known forms of life.

Some of these generalizations include things like Allen’s law, which states that body shape in warm-blooded organisms adapts to climatic conditions; Short, stocky bodies help retain heat in colder climates, while tall, leaner bodies help dissipate heat better in warmer climates. Another rule, known as Bergmann’s rule, states that species from a broad lineage are usually larger in colder climates and smaller in warmer climates, although as with most biological rules, there are exceptions.

Currently, there are about 24 different rules that describe various processes in the natural world, and now University of Southern California researchers hope to add a new rule to this collection. At first glance, this new law, known as “selective beneficial instability” (SAI), seems to challenge fundamental assumptions about life and goes against the common belief that life always seeks stability and conservation of resources.

Although nature tends toward stability in many cases, and this is one of the reasons why many hexagonal shapes are observed in nature, including in beehives and insect eyes, molecular biologist John Towers argues that instability in biological components such as proteins and genes can actually be useful for cells. This research was published in Frontiers in Aging.

According to John Towers, even the simplest cells have proteases and nucleases and regularly break down and replace their proteins and RNAs; A topic that shows that beneficial selective instability is essential for life. He explains that this process can favor the simultaneous maintenance of a normal gene and a mutation in a cell population, if the normal gene is advantageous in one cell state and the mutation confers an advantage in another.

Such states allow for more genetic diversity, and this diversity in turn can increase the adaptability of organisms. Many cellular components also prefer a shorter lifespan, as this feature actually helps promote cell health. This shows that beneficial selective instability in these components is a necessary biological function.

Another piece of evidence that supports the pervasiveness of beneficial selective instability and its merit as a new principle of biology is the presence of this concept in other well-known frameworks such as chaos theory and ideas related to cellular consciousness. For this reason, and also because of its links to fundamental biological processes such as aging, understanding the internal mechanisms of beneficial selective instability can help biologists examine cellular life from an entirely new angle.