The Symbiotic Phenomenon in the Evolutive Context

Abstract

We live in a symbiotic world, and one of the key characteristics of the biological systems is to establish associations and connections with other organisms. This manifestation is one of life’s main characteristics and its diversity. In a way, life has not established itself or developed to exist alone. Since the introduction of the symbiosis concept by Anton de Bary in 1878 and the new theoretical formulation on the field – symbiogenesis – by Constantin Merezhkowsky, in 1909, this domain of science has been a place of controversy and discussion. The symbiogenesis concept was a landmark for the development of further studies on biology and evolution, that the most remarkable example was the development of the Serial Endosymbiotic Theory (SET) by Lynn Margulis in 1967. Throughout the twentieth century, biologists have generally considered symbiosis as a curiosity. Its study fell largely outside the conceptual and technical framework of biology, and namely of neo-Darwinism. However, most living forms have symbiotic relationships with microorganisms, and so symbiosis seems to play a very important role in the origin, organization and life evolution. In this sense, evolutionary changes can be explained by an integrated and synergistic cooperation between organisms, in which symbiosis acts, not as an exception, but as the dominant rule in nature. Without denying many of the Darwinist principles, the worse thing we could do within the study of the process of evolution would be to mix up or limit evolution to the Darwinist or neo-Darwinist perspective. Other evolutionist approaches exist and it is necessary for them to be deepened and discussed within biological and social sciences. In this sense, we would like to bring a set of principles and data that could be integrated in a Symbiogenic Theory of Evolution that could contribute towards a new epistemological approach of the symbiotic phenomenon in the evolutive context. This, in our point of view, could be the beginning of a new paradigm in science that rests almost unexplored.