Woese's dogma (original) (raw)

Woese's dogma is a principle of evolutionary biology first put forth by biophysicist Carl Woese in 1977. It states that the evolution of ribosomal RNA was a necessary precursor to the evolution of modern life forms. This led to the advancement of the phylogenetic tree of life consisting of three domains rather than the previously accepted two. While the existence of Eukarya and Prokarya were already accepted, Woese was responsible for the distinction between Bacteria and Archaea. Despite initial criticism and controversy surrounding his claims, Woese's three domain system, based on his work regarding the role of rRNA in the evolution of modern life, has become widely accepted.