Functional homology and homology of function: biological concepts and philosophical consequences

Love, Alan C.

doi:10.1007/s10539-007-9093-7

Cited by 98 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Owen's (1843) original definition of homology referred to identity of organs irrespective of form or function, which appears to separate structure and function (and Owen apparently meant homology = similarity of structure, whereas analogy = similarity of function). However, there are separate and legitimate concepts for homology of structure and function based on shared descent (Love 2007), and traditionally structure has been regarded as the most reliable level at which to detect morphological homologies (Jardine 1969;Rieppel and Kearney 2002;Richter 2005;Agnarsson and Coddington 2008). Indeed, 'homology' is sometimes seen as solely being either structural or developmental (see below), rather than the larger hierarchy shown in Table 1.…”

Section: Other Levels Of Homologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular homology and multiple-sequence alignment: an analysis of concepts and practice

Morrison

Morgan

Kelchner

2015

Aust. Systematic Bot.

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Abstract. Sequence alignment is just as much a part of phylogenetics as is tree building, although it is often viewed solely as a necessary tool to construct trees. However, alignment for the purpose of phylogenetic inference is primarily about homology, as it is the procedure that expresses homology relationships among the characters, rather than the historical relationships of the taxa. Molecular homology is rather vaguely defined and understood, despite its importance in the molecular age. Indeed, homology has rarely been evaluated with respect to nucleotide sequence alignments, in spite of the fact that nucleotides are the only data that directly represent genotype. All other molecular data represent phenotype, just as do morphology and anatomy. Thus, efforts to improve sequence alignment for phylogenetic purposes should involve a more refined use of the homology concept at a molecular level. To this end, we present examples of molecular-data levels at which homology might be considered, and arrange them in a hierarchy. The concept that we propose has many levels, which link directly to the developmental and morphological components of homology. Of note, there is no simple relationship between gene homology and nucleotide homology. We also propose terminology with which to better describe and discuss molecular homology at these levels. Our over-arching conceptual framework is then used to shed light on the multitude of automated procedures that have been created for multiple-sequence alignment. Sequence alignment needs to be based on aligning homologous nucleotides, without necessary reference to homology at any other level of the hierarchy. In particular, inference of nucleotide homology involves deriving a plausible scenario for molecular change among the set of sequences. Our clarifications should allow the development of a procedure that specifically addresses homology, which is required when performing alignment for phylogenetic purposes, but which does not yet exist.

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Section: Other Levels Of Homologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular homology and multiple-sequence alignment: an analysis of concepts and practice

Morrison

Morgan

Kelchner

2015

Aust. Systematic Bot.

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“…In fact, current evolutionary theory tells us that it is not behaviors that evolve, but biological structures supporting them (Wagner and Altenberg 1996, Carroll 2005, Love 2007) (this is another face of the "form-function" problem), and also that other mechanisms can account for evolutionary novelties such as language, to the extent that phenotypic novelties seem to be largely reorganizational rather than a product of innovative genes (see West-Eberhard 2003 for a detailed discussion).…”

Section: As Examples)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Some thoughts on biolinguistics

Boeckx

2015

Veritas

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Naïve depictions of the biology of language are unable to treat the real complexity observed by biologists at all levels of analysis, and consequently they do not bring us closer to an accurate depiction of the nature of human language and the human mind. The aim of this essay is to show that if a real biolinguistics is intended to be achieved we ought to be compelled to go beyond these depictions. Resumo: Retratos ingênuos da biologia da linguagem são incapazes de tratar a real complexidade observada por biólogos em todos os níveis de análise, e consequentemente não nos conduzam mais próximos de um relato preciso sobre a natureza da linguagem humana e da mente humana. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar que se se propõe a realizar uma biolinguística efetiva, então deveríamos ser compelidos a ir além destes relatos.Palavras-chave: Biolinguística. Linguagem humana. Mente humana. Genoma humano. Biologia.

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“…Sería más exacto caracterizarla como un dispositivo de computación de carácter mental con la propiedad accidental de interactuar con un sistema conceptual-intencional (en esencia, un diccionario de símbolos) y con un sistema vocal-auditivo (lo que en el apartado 1 denominábamos 'estructuras auditivas y del habla'), dando lugar a lo que Hauser et al (2002) designan como FL en sentido Amplio o FLA. En consecuencia, las 'funciones' que cabe adjudicar al lenguaje (en particular, la comunicación) serían ortólogas a la Facultad en sí (Balari y Lorenzo 2009;Balari et al e. p.). En realidad, las funciones, entendidas como el uso dado a las estructuras biológicas como consecuencia de las conexiones que establecen con otras estructuras y de las relaciones que el organismo mantiene con su ambiente (Love 2007), no evolucionan. Lo hacen solo las propias estructuras (junto con las actividades que llevan a cabo) y sobre todo, y tal como discutíamos en el apartado anterior, los sistemas de desarrollo que determinan su aparición al término de la ontogenia.…”

Section: Un Nuevo Examen De Las Evidencias Fósiles Y Arqueológicasunclassified

¿Es el lenguaje (complejo) el resultado de una transferencia genética entre neandertales y humanos modernos?

Benítez‐Burraco¹

2012

Trab. prehist.

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RESUMENLa reciente constatación de ADN neandertal en determinadas poblaciones humanas modernas sugiere un cruce limitado entre ambas especies. Esta transferencia genética pudo haber afectado a las capacidades cognitivas de los neandertales y justificar, en particular, que hubiesen tenido lenguaje moderno. Tal posibilidad se examina a la luz de las propias evidencias genéticas, pero también de las de tipo paleoantropológico y arqueológico utilizadas habitualmente para tratar de inferir la presencia de lenguaje en otras especies de homínidos. En conjunto, dichas evidencias parecen sugerir que el lenguaje complejo habría sido una adquisición exclusiva de los humanos modernos. Ello es compatible, no obstante, con una continuidad evolutiva de los diversos mecanismos bioló-gicos y cognitivos implicados en el procesamiento lingüístico y en último término, con la presencia de algún tipo de lenguaje, computacionalmente más simple, en los neandertales. ABSTRACT

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Functional homology and homology of function: biological concepts and philosophical consequences

Abstract: provided helpful suggestions on many aspects of an earlier version of the paper. I am also grateful to Marc Ereshefsky for organizing these symposia on homology, which spurred me to work on this material.

Cited by 98 publications

References 45 publications

Molecular homology and multiple-sequence alignment: an analysis of concepts and practice

Molecular homology and multiple-sequence alignment: an analysis of concepts and practice

Some thoughts on biolinguistics

¿Es el lenguaje (complejo) el resultado de una transferencia genética entre neandertales y humanos modernos?

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