Acquiring Genomes Quotes

“Although random mutations influenced the course of evolution, their influence was mainly by loss, alteration, and refinement... Never, however, did that one mutation make a wing, a fruit, a woody stem, or a claw appear. Mutations, in summary, tend to induce sickness, death, or deficiencies. No evidence in the vast literature of heredity changes shows unambiguous evidence that random mutation itself, even with geographical isolation of populations, leads to speciation.”
― Lynn Margulis, Acquiring Genomes: A Theory Of The Origin Of Species

“Sergestid shrimp, he suggests, acquired, integrated, and put to work at least four intact genomes. To Williamson the inheritance of these acquired genomes, not random mutations, determines the evolutionary success of these shrimp today.”
― Lynn Margulis, Acquiring Genomes: A Theory Of The Origin Of Species