Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: French naturalist J.B. Lamarck is most commonly known for popularizing the theory that some traits acquired during the life of an organism can be inherited in his 1809 book. German biologist A. Weismann presented evidence in his 1891 book that acquired traits were not heritable in sexually reproducing animals. But so little was known about bacteria that they were considered to be the last stronghold of Lamarckism. The “fluctuation test ” of S. Luria and M. Delbrück in 1943 seemed to confirm that Lamarckism in bacteria was indeed dead. This review, however, proposes that today bacteria may be viewed as the source from which much of our present knowledge of epigenetics, evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and the induction or inheritance of acquired characters has grown. French naturalist J.B. Lamarck (1744-1829) is best known for popularizing the ancient theory of the inheritance of adaptive acquired characteristics. He believed that unusual changes in an organism’s environment or activity can induce adaptive anatomical, physiological, or behavioral changes during the life of the individual that can then be transmitted to succeeding generations.
Author: William D. Stansfield
Institution: California Polytechnic State University
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W27904841