The History and Reception of Charles Darwin’s Hypothesis of Pangenesis

Holterhoff, Kate

doi:10.1007/s10739-014-9377-0

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Here the prospective anterior position of the emerging body plan serves as the organizer. The organizer secretes signals across the mesodermal cells, and these go on to pattern cell fates along the dorsal and ventral and anterior posterior embryonic axes [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ]. Additionally, in association to this positional specification defined mesodermal segments induce the overlying ectoderm to differentiate into neural tissue [ 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extracellular Vesicles as Innovative Tool for Diagnosis, Regeneration and Protection against Neurological Damage

Anđjus

Kosanović

Milićević

et al. 2020

IJMS

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have recently attracted a great deal of interest as they may represent a new biosignaling paradigm. According to the mode of biogenesis, size and composition, two broad categories of EVs have been described, exosomes and microvesicles. EVs have been shown to carry cargoes of signaling proteins, RNA species, DNA and lipids. Once released, their content is selectively taken up by near or distant target cells, influencing their behavior. Exosomes are involved in cell–cell communication in a wide range of embryonic developmental processes and in fetal–maternal communication. In the present review, an outline of the role of EVs in neural development, regeneration and diseases is presented. EVs can act as regulators of normal homeostasis, but they can also promote either neuroinflammation/degeneration or tissue repair in pathological conditions, depending on their content. Since EV molecular cargo constitutes a representation of the origin cell status, EVs can be exploited in the diagnosis of several diseases. Due to their capability to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB), EVs not only have been suggested for the diagnosis of central nervous system disorders by means of minimally invasive procedures, i.e., “liquid biopsies”, but they are also considered attractive tools for targeted drug delivery across the BBB. From the therapeutic perspective, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent one of the most promising sources of EVs. In particular, the neuroprotective properties of MSCs derived from the dental pulp are here discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extracellular Vesicles as Innovative Tool for Diagnosis, Regeneration and Protection against Neurological Damage

Anđjus

Kosanović

Milićević

et al. 2020

IJMS

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“…In analogy with Lamarckism, this hypothesis is based on the assumption that extrachromosomal transgenerational inheritance can affect ontogenesis and generate evolutionarily significant, stably acquired variations. Darwinian pangenesis ( Holterhoff, 2014 ) is the other theory with which the model has significant overlap. The hypothesis that “gemmules” containing parental characters are released from tissues and transferred to the next generation via the germline can now be reinterpreted in the light of our current knowledge of circulating nanovesicles and exosomes, carrying nucleic acids and released from somatic tissues, which can be taken up by sperm cells, thus providing a foundation for spermatozoa-mediated transgenerational inheritance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm-Mediated Transgenerational Inheritance

Spadafora

2017

Front. Microbiol.

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Spermatozoa of virtually all species can spontaneously take up exogenous DNA or RNA molecules and internalize them into nuclei. In this article I review evidence for a key role of a reverse transcriptase (RT) activity, encoded by LINE-1 retrotransposons, in the fate of the internalized nucleic acid molecules and their implication in transgenerational inheritance. LINE-1-derived RT, present in sperm heads, can reverse-transcribe the internalized molecules in cDNA copies: exogenous RNA is reverse-transcribed in a one-step reaction, whereas DNA is first transcribed into RNA and subsequently reverse-transcribed. Both RNA and cDNA molecules can be delivered from sperm cells to oocytes at fertilization, further propagated throughout embryogenesis and inherited in a non-Mendelian fashion in tissues of adult animals. The reverse-transcribed sequences are extrachromosomal, low-abundance, and mosaic distributed in tissues of adult individuals, where they are variably expressed. These “retrogenes” are transcriptionally competent and induce novel phenotypic traits in animals. Growing evidence indicate that cancer tissues produce DNA- and RNA-containing exosomes. We recently found that these exosomes are released in the bloodstream and eventually taken up into epididymal spermatozoa, consistent with the emerging view that a transgenerational flow of extrachromosomal RNA connects soma to germline and, further, to next generation embryos. Spermatozoa play a crucial bridging role in this process: they act as collectors of somatic information and as delivering vectors to the next generation. On the whole, this phenomenon is compatible with a Lamarckian-type view and closely resembles Darwinian pangenesis.

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“…79 The relationship between grandfathers and grandchildren was similarly prominent in Darwin's work thirty years later in the Variation, when he outlined his pangenesis hypothesis. 82 Examples of human psychology, mental illness, and inheritance furnished by his father again featured heavily, as did a concern with reversion. There was, Darwin noted, a 'great principle of inheritance', long recognised by agriculturists and expressed in a variety of languages, by which offspring resemble an ancestor more closely than either of their immediate parents, and a grandparent more than either parent.…”

Section: Early Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charles Darwin and the scientific mind

Stack

2019

Br J Hist Sci

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Although often presented as an essential, ahistorical, or innate psychological entity, the notion of a 'scientific mind' is ripe for historical analysis. The growing historical interest in the self-fashioning of masculine identities, and more particularly the selffashioning of the nineteenth century scientist, has opened up a space in which to probe what was understood by someone being said to possess a 'scientific mind'. This task is made all the more urgent by the recently revived interest of some psychologists in the concept and the highly gendered and culturally conditioned understanding of the scientific mind displayed in some contemporary debates. This article contributes to that task, and fills a rare gap in Darwin studies, by making the first detailed exploration of Charles Darwin's understanding of the scientific mind, as revealed in the psychological self-analysis he undertook in his 'Recollections of the development of my mind and character' (1876), and supplemented in his Life of Erasmus Darwin (1879). Drawing upon a broad range of Darwin's published and unpublished works, this article argues that Darwin's understanding of the scientific mind was rooted in his earliest notebooks, and was far more central to his thought than is usually acknowledged. The article further delineates the differences between Darwin's understanding and that of his halfcousin Francis Galton; situates his understanding in relation his reading of William Whewell and Auguste Comte; and considers what Darwin's view of the scientific mind tells us about his perspective on questions of religion and gender. Throughout, the article seeks to show that the 'scientific mind' is always an agglomeration of historically Page 1 of 50specific prejudices and presumptions, and concludes that this study of Darwin points to the need for a similarly historical approach to the question of the scientific mind today.

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The History and Reception of Charles Darwin’s Hypothesis of Pangenesis

Cited by 25 publications

References 16 publications

Extracellular Vesicles as Innovative Tool for Diagnosis, Regeneration and Protection against Neurological Damage

Extracellular Vesicles as Innovative Tool for Diagnosis, Regeneration and Protection against Neurological Damage

Sperm-Mediated Transgenerational Inheritance

Charles Darwin and the scientific mind

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