Importance of Biogenesis

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

Biogenesis is the term coined with which mention is made of the theory that refers to the origin or formation of living beings, exclusively from another biological organism. predecessor, a subject that since ancient times has been the object of study and debate among philosophers, scientists and theologians, but that, thanks to all the multiple evidences available to the science today, it has managed to establish itself as one of the fundamental principles of modern biology, giving concrete and supported explanations about the origin of life on the planet.

This fundamental principle, needless to say, is the opposite idea of ​​spontaneous generation, an ancient theory that affirmed that Living beings could arise spontaneously from inanimate matter, as many of the myths of certain tribes tell. ancestral of the planet, through which humanity began its process of self-exploration and the development of self awareness.

A coherent origin

The bases of biogenesis are evident in the scientific findings that have allowed us to deepen our understanding of life. For example, in 1859, Charles Darwin published his work "The Origin of Species", in which he proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection, which revolutionized biology and the understanding of the origin and diversity of living beings, in a conjugated way to biogenesis, revealing that evolution has occurred through processes of natural selection and not of a generation spontaneous.

Another fundamental contribution was the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 by the scientists James Watson and Francis Crick, a fact that allowed understand that DNA is the genetic material that is transmitted from one generation to another, since it contains the necessary information for the conformation of the specific characteristics of living beings, which supports biogenesis by having a means of transmission of genetic information from parents to children.

The verification that Robert Koch made in 1876, with respect to the bacterial origin of tuberculosis, directed his gaze towards the existence of microorganisms and their responsibility for infectious diseases, revealing their transmissibility character, initiating the change of paradigm on health and the origin of diseases, allowing to transcend even above the suppositions of these as punishment or misfortunes for those who suffered from them.

The evolutionary system

On the other hand, this approach allows not only the analysis of possible common ancestors between species, and the determination of evolutionary changes, rather, it confers all the necessary amplitude for the incorporation under study of all the other phenomena that can intervene on the variability genetics.

The clear explanation of how the biological characteristics are transmitted from one generation to another has, in turn, allowed the development of a system that has become throughout an area of ​​study, through which the ancestral relationships of the various species are revealed, currently even achieving the generation of more precise ideas about the species that have disappeared and of which humanity was not an eyewitness or about which there are very few and vague ones records.

biogenesis and technology

Already in a more pragmatic and current sense, we have that this theoretical base maintains a close link with biotechnological research and genetic engineering, based on the potential for manipulating genetic material to produce tissues or organisms with specific characteristics, which is also essential in the modern field of health, through understanding the evolutionary nature of microorganisms, achieving the development of effective treatments and vaccines to combat diseases.

In short, if science did not have the capacity to understand and accept the true origin of living beings, very little progress would have been made in any of the fields of biology and biotechnology, still seeing ourselves in the position of not being able to even figure out how to correctly approach any type of disease, and destined for a possible extinction due to the overflow of the pandemic potential of any microorganism or due to a famine caused by any incomprehensible – but spontaneous – reason that threatens the ways in which we provide ourselves with food, whether animal or vegetable, in short, who knows what our destiny would be if we were still ignorant of the foundations of knowledge scientist.

References

Salvat Library (1973). The evolution of the spices. Barcelona, ​​Spain. Salvat Editors.

Gama, A. (2012). biology i Pearson Education.

Herms Fiol, A. (2014). Cellular biology of lipid bodies. Biogenesis, Accumulation and Metabolism.

Jimenez, R. m. (2013). Mitochondrial diseases and mitochondrial biogenesis. (Doctoral dissertation, Autonomous University of Madrid).

Moro, b. (2017). Molecular bases of the biogenesis of microRNAs in plants.