Communications in Information and Systems

Volume 23 (2023)

Number 4

The maximum genetic diversity theory of molecular evolution

Pages: 359 – 392

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4310/CIS.2023.v23.n4.a1

Author

Shi Huang (Center for Medical Genetics, Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China)

Abstract

The study of evolution has a long history and early theories of evolution included one by Lamarck and the other by Darwin. Advances in Mendelian genetics resulted in the modern synthesis in the 1930s merging Darwin’s theory with genetics. However, the reality of genetic diversity remains poorly understood. The unlocking of protein sequences in the early 1960s revealed a shocking phenomenon, genetic equidistance, which then led to an ad hoc hypothesis known as the molecular clock. This in turn inspired the neutral theory by Kimura, which negates the role of natural selection in molecular evolution. The neutral theory has served as a useful null model but remains an unsatisfactory account for genetic diversity. In the first decade of the 21st century, we fortuitously rediscovered the long-overlooked genetic equidistance phenomenon, which inspired us to propose the maximum genetic diversity hypothesis as a comprehensive evolutionary theory. Analytical tests have shown that genetic distances observed today are mostly at maximum saturation rather than still increasing with time as misread by the molecular clock and the neutral theory. The maximum genetic diversity theory posits that macroevolution from simple to complex taxa involves a punctuational increase in epigenetic complexity and a corresponding loss in the maximum genetic diversity that a taxon can tolerate. It rekindles some of Lamarck’s ideas and fully grants the proven virtues of Darwin’s and Kimura’s theories. The theory will rewrite molecular phylogeny and help solve difficult biomedical problems including the mystery of the purpose of sexual reproduction.

Keywords

genetic diversity, genetic equidistance, molecular clock, neutral theory, maximum genetic diversity theory

Received 16 November 2022

Published 21 May 2024