发育系统产生恒定表型的能力,即使在各种不同的环境中,物种的长期稳定性是生物学中最显著的现象之一。我认为,了解物种的长期恒定性和稳定性或在不同环境中发展的恒定结果也是解释稳定变化的先决条件(即,不包含随机可塑性的变化)。解释发育稳定变化的各种方法是基于基因和有组织的基因组的因果作用。数学-物理-化学模型,或两者的组合。我认为,发展结果的恒定性和物种的长期稳定性与生物体的结构和组织等级有关,特别是高度组织化的基因调控网络和遗传因果关系,这是生活的基本原则。将这些原理边缘化的数学-物理化学模型不能令人信服地解释观察到的发展和进化的恒定性。然而,物理化学过程的整合,例如反应扩散机制和基于基因组的形式生成机制,最近被证明在解释某些周期性结构的发展方面卓有成效。恒定和变化也是古希腊哲学的主要观点,其中著名的哲学流派,如原子学家,试图通过基于恒定的实体稳定变化来弥合它们之间的矛盾。我认为改变的想法,也就是说,在不失去复杂性甚至增加复杂性的情况下改变,在这些古代投机思想家的著作中,基于对基因组在很长一段时间内的其他可靠传输的修改具有历史上的相似之处,尽管两种思想体系之间存在根本差异。
The ability of developmental systems to produce constant phenotypes, even in a wide range of different environments, and the longstanding stability of species are among the most remarkable phenomena in biology. I argue that understanding the longstanding constancy and stability of species or the constant outcome of development in different environments are also prerequisites for explaining stable change (i.e., change that does not consist of random plasticity). Various approaches to account for stable changes in development are based on the causal role of genes and an organized genome, mathematical-physical-chemical models, or a combination of both. I argue that the constancy of developmental outcome and the longstanding stability of species are associated with organisms\' structural and organizational hierarchies, particularly highly organized gene-regulatory networks and genetic causality, which are fundamental principles of life. Mathematical-physical-chemical models that marginalize these principles cannot convincingly account for the observed constancy in development and evolution. However, an integration of physical-chemical processes such as reaction-diffusion mechanisms and genome-based mechanisms of form generation has recently proved fruitful in explaining the development of some periodic structures. Constancy and change were also major topoi in ancient Greek philosophy, in which prominent philosophical schools such as the atomists attempted to bridge the antinomy between them by basing stable change on constant entities. I argue that the idea of change, that is, change without losing complexity or even increasing it, being based on modifications of the otherwise reliable transmission of genomes over long periods of time has a historical parallel in the writings of these ancient speculative thinkers, notwithstanding the fundamental differences between the two thought systems.