Scrutinizing microbiome determinism: why deterministic hypotheses about the microbiome are conceptually ungrounded.
Hist Philos Life Sci
; 46(1): 12, 2024 Feb 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38347271
ABSTRACT
This paper addresses the topic of determinism in contemporary microbiome research. I distinguish two types of deterministic claims about the microbiome, and I show evidence that both types of claims are present in the contemporary literature. First, the idea that the host genetics determines the composition of the microbiome which I call "host-microbiome determinism". Second, the idea that the genetics of the holobiont (the individual unit composed by a host plus its microbiome) determines the expression of certain phenotypic traits, which I call "microbiome-phenotype determinism". Drawing on the stability of traits conception of individuality (Suárez in Hist Philos Life Sci 4211, 2020) I argue that none of these deterministic hypotheses is grounded on our current knowledge of how the holobiont is transgenerationally assembled, nor how it expresses its phenotypic traits.
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1
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01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Evolução Biológica
/
Microbiota
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article