I recall that the bacterial flagellum, with less parts, still has some functions besides motory things, like injecting poison, contrary to ideas of irreducible complexity that say that oh the truncated flagellum is useless or something!
2 months ago
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Stated Clearly
The repurposing of old traits for new functions is so important in evolution (but so rarely taught) that scientists keep independently "discovering" and renaming it. The first 4 are synonyms. The last 3 are important special cases:
- Trait conversion (Charles Darwin, 1859)
- Preadaptation (George Gaylord Simpson, 1953)
- Co-option (I'm not sure who coined this or when)
- Exaptation (Stephen Jay Gould, 1982)
- Neofunctionalization (Hermann Joseph Muller 1936)
- Moonlighting (Constance J Jeffery, 1999)
- Recruitment (Refined in 2020 by Morgan Beeby et al.)
"Moonlighting" is when a trait still performs both the old and new function. "Recruitment" (2020 definition) is when two traits merge and gain a new function in the process, or enhanced one of the original functions.
2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 56