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''The Major Transitions in Evolution'' is a book written by John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry (Oxford University Press, 1995). This was a seminal publication that continues to contribute to ongoing issues in evolutionary biology.〔 Also ISBN 978-1-84046-780-2〕〔Brett Calcott and Kim Sterelny (eds) ''The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/major-transitions-evolution-revisited〕 At the time of its publication, Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr reviewing for ''Evolution'' commented that it "may be the most important book on evolution since () Fisher's (1930) ''The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection''〔http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2410462〕". Maynard Smith and Szathmary authored a review article in ''Nature'' 〔Nature 1995 vol 374 pp 227-232 doi:10.1038/374227a0〕 Maynard Smith and Szathmáry identified several properties common to the transitions: # Smaller entities have often come about together to form larger entities. e.g. Chromosomes, eukaryotes, sex multicellular colonies. # Smaller entities often become differentiated as part of a larger entity. e.g. DNA & protein, organelles, anisogamy, tissues, castes # The smaller entities are often unable to replicate in the absence of the larger entity. e.g. Organelles, tissues, castes # The smaller entities can sometimes disrupt the development of the larger entity, e.g. Meiotic drive (selfish non-Mendelian genes), parthenogenesis, cancers, coup d’état # New ways of transmitting information have arisen.e.g. DNA-protein, cell heredity, epigenesis, universal grammar. As stated by the authors, this book was aimed at professional biologists and assumes considerable prior knowledge. They have also published a presentation of their ideas for a general readership under the title ''The Origins of Life — From the Birth of Life to the Origins of Language''.〔 ==See also== *Evolutionary history of life *Metasystem transition, a related notion developed by Valentin Turchin in 1977. *Origin of life *Social evolution 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Major Transitions in Evolution」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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