Foundational errors in the Neutral and Nearly-Neutral theories of evolution in relation to the Synthetic Theory: Is a new evolutionary paradigm necessary?

The Neutral Theory of Evolution (NTE) proposes mutation and random genetic drift as the most important evolutionary factors. The most conspicuous feature of evolution is the genomic stability during paleontological eras and lack of variation among taxa; 98% or more of nucleotide sites are monomorphic within a species. NTE explains this homology by random fixation of neutral bases and negative selection (purifying selection) that does not contribute either to evolution or polymorphisms. Purifying selection is insufficient to account for this evolutionary feature and the Nearly-Neutral Theory of Evolution (N-NTE) included negative selection with coefficients as low as mutation rate. These NTE and N-NTE propositions are thermodynamically (tendency to random distributions, second law), biotically (recurrent mutation), logically and mathematically (resilient equilibria instead of fixation by drift) untenable. Recurrent forward and backward mutation and random fluctuations of base frequencies alone in a site make life organization and fixations impossible. Drift is not a directional evolutionary factor, but a directional tendency of matter-energy processes (second law) which threatens the biotic organization. Drift cannot drive evolution. In a site, the mutation rates among bases and selection coefficients determine the resilient equilibrium frequency of bases that genetic drift cannot change. The expected neutral random interaction among nucleotides is zero; however, huge interactions and periodicities were found between bases of dinucleotides separated by 1, 2... and more than 1,000 sites. Every base is co-adapted with the whole genome. Neutralists found that neutral evolution is independent of population size (N); thus neutral evolution should be independent of drift, because drift effect is dependent upon N. Also, chromosome size and shape as well as protein size are far from random.

Cor, educação e casamento: tendências da seletividade marital no Brasil, 1960 a 2000 / Color, education, and marriage: trends in marital selectiveness in Brazil from 1960 to 2000 / Couleur de peau, éducation et mariage: tendances de la sélection maritale au Brésil de 1960 à 2000

The article analyzes trends in marital selectiveness among blacks, browns, and whites in Brazil, using data from 1960, 1980, and 2000. Given that the educational system expanded and racial inequalities decreased over the years, the article aims to investigate to what extent these trends are related to the reduction in barriers to interracial marriage, as observed during the period. The authors thus analyze marriage patterns in couples of different color and schooling. The reduction in barriers to interracial marriage is independent of the parallel decrease in couples with different educational levels. Such barriers have become less common in all groups, except for those with the most education; in other words, the odds of marriage between husbands and wives with any level of university education increased from 1960 to 2000, corresponding to an increase in the barrier to marriage between highly educated individuals and less educated partners. Nevertheless, the overall trend was towards a decrease in barriers to interracial and inter-educational marriages from 1960 to 2000. In other words, there are steadily fewer impediments to interracial and inter-educational marriages in Brazil.

Dans cet article, on analyse les tendances de la sélection maritale entre noirs, mulâtres et blancs au Brésil, à partir de données couvrant les années 1960, 1980 et 2000. En considérant que le système d'éducation s'est développé et que les inégalités raciales ont diminué avec les années, on cherche à savoir dans quelle mesure ces tendances sont liées à l'aténuation des barrières aux mariages inter-raciaux observée dans la période en question. Dans ce sens, on examine les modèles de mariage entre personnes de couleur de peau et niveau scolaire différents. La diminution des barrières dans le mariage inter-racial ne dépend pas de la diminution parallèle des mariages de niveau scolaire différent. Ces derniers diminuent chez tous les groupes, sauf pour les plus scolarisés, c'est-à-dire que les chances de mariage entre hommes et femmes de scolarité supérieure sont plus grandes entre 1960 et 2000, ce qui correspond à un accroissement de la barrière pour les mariages entre gens très scolarisés et peu scolarisés. Malgré cela, la tendance générale est de diminution des barrières aux mariages inter-raciaux et entre des gens de niveau-scolaire différent entre 1960 et 2000. Soit, il y a de moins en moins de restrictions aux mariages inter-raciaux et entre des gens de niveau scolaire différent au Brésil.