Abstract
Koonin, in an article in this issue, claims that CRISPR–Cas systems are mechanisms for the inheritance of acquired adaptive characteristics, and that the operation of such systems comprises a “Lamarckian mode of evolution.” We argue that viewing the CRISPR–Cas mechanism as facilitating a form of “directed mutation” more accurately represents how the system behaves and the history of neoDarwinian thinking, and is to be preferred.
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Funding was provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. GLDSU447989).
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Wideman, J.G., Inkpen, S.A., Doolittle, W.F. et al. Mutationism, not Lamarckism, captures the novelty of CRISPR–Cas. Biol Philos 34, 12 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-018-9659-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-018-9659-6