Immunological Drift
the natural history of lymphocytes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2316-770X.2014.2642Keywords:
Natural drift, Immunology, ExaptationAbstract
The development of the immune system in the phylogeny of jawed vertebrates with its vast array of clonally expressed lymphocyte receptors is usually viewed as optimized for the defense of the organism. There is a clear association between Neo-Darwinism, the dominant view in current Biology, and the usual description of immunological activity as adaptive immunity. Here we suggest that a completely new approach to the origin of living systems, named by Maturana and Mpodozis as natural phylogenic drift, when applied to immunology, may replace the usual Neo-Darwinian explanation of the origin of the immunological activity. In addition, using the concepts of spandrels and exaptation created by Gould and co-workers, we review data from comparative immunology and claim that the immune system was not formed as a system optimized for the defense of the organism, but rather may be viewed as a spandrel, a consequence of processes not originally linked to interactions with foreign materials. We also claim that the insertion of lymphocytes in the normal dynamics of cellular turnover was necessary to circumvent potential pathogenic effects of clonal expansions.
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