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Part of the book series: Springer Advanced Texts in Chemistry ((SATC))

Abstract

Biology is a natural science with a historic dimension. All biological species have developed continuously starting out from a single or from a very limited number of ancestral species. As chance may have played a major role in priming events of the past, we have to accept the fact that evolutionary directions may never be fully explained in terms of cause and effect. At first sight this appears to be a major drawback for scientists who love deduction from basic principles. However, quasi-random development has given rise to an awesome degree of diversity in biological species which can be considered as the outcome of numerous natural experiments. Hence one should acknowledge these experiments gratefully, analyze their results, and start interpreting them.

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© 1979 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Schulz, G.E., Schirmer, R.H. (1979). Protein Evolution. In: Principles of Protein Structure. Springer Advanced Texts in Chemistry. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-6137-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-6137-7_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-90334-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-6137-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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