From: nospam@buzz.off   
      
   On Wed, 25 Jun 2025 22:48:40 -0600, the following appeared   
   in talk.origins, posted by Pro Plyd   
   :   
      
   >   
   >https://phys.org/news/2025-06-tomatoes-galpagos-quietly-de-evolving.html   
   >   
   >On the younger, black-rock islands of the   
   >Galápagos archipelago, wild-growing tomatoes   
   >are doing something peculiar. They're shedding   
   >millions of years of evolution, reverting to a   
   >more primitive genetic state that resurrects   
   >ancient chemical defenses.   
   >   
   >These tomatoes, which descended from South   
   >American ancestors likely brought over by birds,   
   >have quietly started making a toxic molecular   
   >cocktail that hasn't been seen in millions of   
   >years, one that resembles compounds found in   
   >eggplant, not the modern tomato.   
   >   
   >In a study published recently in Nature   
   >Communications, scientists at the University of   
   >California, Riverside, describe this unexpected   
   >development as a possible case of "reverse   
   >evolution," a term that tends to be controversial   
   >among evolutionary biologists.   
   >   
   >That's because evolution isn't supposed to have   
   >a rewind button. It's generally viewed as a   
   >one-way march toward adaptation, not a circular   
   >path back to traits once lost. While organisms   
   >sometimes re-acquire features similar to those   
   >of their ancestors, doing so through the exact   
   >same genetic pathways is rare and difficult to   
   >prove.   
   >   
   >However, reversal is what these tomato plants   
   >appear to be doing.   
   >   
   Interesting, but if the genetic structure was once there to   
   produce these toxic molecules, perhaps it was "switched off"   
   when no longer needed (i.e., converted to "junk DNA") and   
   now has been reactivated due to environmental factors?   
   >   
   --   
      
   Bob C.   
      
   "The most exciting phrase to hear in science,   
    the one that heralds new discoveries, is not   
    'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"   
      
   - Isaac Asimov   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)