Review: J. W. Thornton (2022): Simple mechanisms for the evolution of protein complexity https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2706-main-topics-on-proteins-and-protein-synthesis#9622 Proteins are tiny models of biological complexity: specific interactions among their many amino acids cause proteins to fold into elaborate structures, assemble with other proteins into higher-order complexes, and change their functions and structures upon binding other molecules.  Comment: Merriam-Webster describes the word “elaborate” as: “planned or carried out with great care, to produce by labor,Synonyms: Adjective: complex, complicated, detailed, fancy, intricate, involved, sophisticated Its hard to overlook the teleological aspect of the word. We can all agree that proteins are well-described as elaborate: Nucleopores for example have been described recently as “a massive complex of roughly 1,000 proteins that helps channel DNA instructions to the rest of the cell” 12 These complex Read More ›

Extreme genome repair, and remarkable morphogenesis by self-assembly point to design https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2061p275-my-articles#9626 Extreme Genome Repair (2009): If its naming had followed, rather than preceded, molecular analyses of its DNA, the extremophile bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans might have been called Lazarus. After shattering of its 3.2 Mb genome into 20–30 kb pieces by desiccation or a high dose of ionizing radiation, D. radioduransmiraculously reassembles its genome such that only 3 hr later fully reconstituted nonrearranged chromosomes are present, and the cells carry on, alive as normal 1 T. Devitt (2014): John R. Battista, a professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University, showed that E. coli could evolve to resist ionizing radiation by exposing cultures of the bacterium to the highly radioactive isotope cobalt-60. “We blasted the Read More ›

Peto’s paradox – how intelligent design solves it Marc Tollis (2017): In a multicellular organism, cells must go through a cell cycle that includes growth and division. Every time a human cell divides, it must copy its six billion base pairs of DNA, and it inevitably makes some mistakes. These mistakes are called somatic mutations (cells in the body other than sperm and egg cells). Some somatic mutations may occur in genetic pathways that control cell proliferation, DNA repair, apoptosis, telomere erosion, and growth of new blood vessels, disrupting the normal checks on carcinogenesis. If every cell division carries a certain chance that a cancer-causing somatic mutation could occur, then the risk of developing cancer should be a function of Read More ›

Let’s suppose there was a first Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) or a small population of it. How did it overcome deleterious harmful mutations, in order not to go extinct?   M.LYNCH (2003): Although uncertainties remain with respect to the form of the mutational-effect distribution, a great deal of evidence from several sources strongly suggests that the overall effects of mutations are to reduce fitness. Indirect evidence comes from asymmetrical responses to artificial selection on life history traits, suggesting that variance for these traits is maintained by downwardly skewed distributions of mutational effects. More direct evidence comes from spontaneous mutation accumulation (MA) experiments in Drosophila, Caenorhabditis elegans, wheat, yeast, Escherichia coli, and different mutation accumulation (MA) experiments in Arabidopsis. All of these experiments detected downward trends in mutation Read More ›

Yes, they had to know the fire they were playing with — notice, testimony to congress: Now, you try to tell me that this time and place it’s different. All you will do is raise the question whether you are an empty headed talking point parrot or something worse. Much worse. END PS, here is my basic political analysis, for those willing to learn from hard bought history: F/N Oct 26: In for a penny, in for a pound. Here — for reference — is my 2020 analysis of dirty, McFaul style colour revolutions vs the SOCOM insurgency escalator: Where, here is the Russian Chief of General Staff’s view on dirty colour revolution games as 4th gen war operations: Also, Read More ›

The twentieth century was drenched in blood. Totalitarian governments cruelly slaughtered over 100 million people and consigned tens of millions more to the camps, where their bodies were broken and their spirits crushed. As the years dragged by in that most miserable of centuries, time and again the world convulsed in the grip of a malignant evil that was unprecedented in its scope and brutality. Yet, for all its horror, as the century came to a close there were reasons for hope and even optimism. Memories of the Nazi horror were fading. The Soviet Union had collapsed not, as many had feared, in a paroxysm of fire and blood, but with a whimper. In China, Deng Xiaoping unleashed the power Read More ›