Parallel Genome Assembly

Parallel Genome Assembly (PGA) is a hypothesis in the field of evolutionary biology proposing a mechanism by which the diversity of life could have arisen from the primordial pond. The theory was developed by Periannan Senapathy.
The modern evolutionary synthesis, the expanded form of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, states that all life originated from a primitive organism, presumably a single celled organism. Senapathy argues that this evolutionary model is fundamentally flawed as there is very little commonality among genes from organisms from various branches in the tree of life, therefore a single primitive organism cannot be a last universal common ancestor. Further, Senapathy argues that evolving a new gene through random mutations could take as long as 10<sup>35</sub> years. Senapathy contends that genomes of all organisms are composed of several genes, each of which may have a different evolutionary history.
According to PGA, several complex eukaryotic genomes containing split genes could have easily arisen from the primordial pond, and that it was far more likely to have split genetic sequences containing short coding sequences interspersed with long sequences of non coding DNA within random genetic sequences in the primordial pond than simple prokaryotic genomes (which contain only coding sequences). Senapathy's research has shown that random genetic sequences have similar characteristics to long split genomes found in complex eukaryotic genomes. In addition, an impossible amount of DNA would be required for prokaryotic genomes to have developed directly from the primordial pond. According to this model, bacteria did not evolve into a eukaryote, nor did a eukaryote evolve into a complex multi-cellular life. Rather, complex genomes of multi-cellular organisms could have independently, and in parallel, developed from the pond. In this model, complex eukaryotic genomes would have in parallel risen first from the primordial pond. Senapathy argues that PGA eliminates several classical dilemmas presented by the conventional linear branching evolutionary theories such as the those in On the Origin of Species.<ref name="Nature Preceding Article 1"/>
Selected publications on PGA
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