mjsw on Nostr: A bit too simplistic of an explanation. I say that because the mechanisms of ...

A bit too simplistic of an explanation. I say that because the mechanisms of adaptation and evolution vary wildly depending on the lineage. Microbes, especially bacteria, have very plastic genomes where they take up and shed genetic material depending on the environmental conditions. The same is true for fungi to an extent, but there are other mechanisms at play in their evolution, like segmental duplications and mobile elements. Plants on the other hand can easily undergo whole genome duplications so they can end up with many copies of the same genes that change over time, of even the duplication itself leading to unforeseen new traits through novel recombinations. Potatoes come to mind, for example. Plants and animals generally have expansive genomes that are seemingly "empty" but could actually be a pool of protogenes that are expressed en masse that provides tinkering material.