Orgel's rules are a set of axioms attributed by

Francis Crick Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical struc ...

to the

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...

Leslie Orgel Leslie Eleazer Orgel FRS (12 January 1927 – 27 October 2007) was a British chemist. He is known for his theories on the origin of life. Biography Leslie Orgel was born in London, England, on . He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in chemi ...

Orgel's First Rule

"Whenever a

spontaneous process In thermodynamics, a spontaneous process is a process which occurs without any external input to the system. A more technical definition is the time-evolution of a system in which it releases free energy and it moves to a lower, more thermodynamica ...

is too slow or too inefficient a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

will evolve to speed it up or make it more efficient." This "rule" comments on the fact that there are a great number of proteins in all organisms which fulfil a number of different functions through modifying chemical or physical processes. An example would be an

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

that catalyses a

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

that would take place too slowly to benefit an organism without being sped up by this enzyme.

Orgel's Second Rule

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

is cleverer than you are." This rule is well known among biologists. It does not imply that evolution has conscious motives or method but that people who say "evolution can't do this" or "evolution can't do that" are simply lacking in imagination. Orgel's second rule tells us that the process of natural selection is not itself intelligent, clever or purposeful but that the products of evolution are ingenious.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orgel's Rule Evolutionary biology Rules