Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Here is Another Retrovirus With an Important Function

Cornelius Hunter
March 9, 2015
Intelligent Design
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The more that evolutionists claim nature is full of junk, the more that science finds uses for the junk. An intriguing example are the retroviruses which, for several years, have been found to have various functions. Yet another retrovirus function was published last fall in a study out of Canada. This retrovirus works with several proteins in human embryonic stem cells and without it the stem cells lose their key functionalities.  Read more

Comments
Piotr, the genome is fantastically complex. Far more complex than anyone had dared imagined just a few short decades ago. Without Darwinists having any evidence whatsoever that such fantastic complexity can happen by unguided material processes (Behe, Axe, Gauger), I suggest you go sell your 'DNA is mostly junk' swamp land elsewhere. I ain't buying it for a moment. The Genome In Four Dimensions - Multidimensional Genome – Dr. Robert Carter – video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/8905048/bornagain77
March 11, 2015
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BA77 Junk DNA is DNA whose sequence (as opposed to sheer bulk) doesn't matter. If there's a lot of it, it may be (very weakly) disadvantageous to its carrier, so e.g. in animals with very high metabolic rates and small cell volumes selection against keeping too much junk may prove effective. In most eukaryotic species, however, junk accumulates faster than weak selection can remove it.Piotr
March 11, 2015
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OT: The Onion Test Is a Red Herring (and T. Ryan Gregory who originally proposed the Onion Test refutes himself) - Jonathan Wells - March 11, 2015 Excerpt: Biologists have long known that the DNA content (the "C-value") of eukaryotic cells varies by a factor of several thousand, with no apparent correlation to organismal complexity or to the number of protein-coding genes. There is a strong positive correlation, however, between the amount of DNA and the volume of a cell and its nucleus -- which affects the rate of cell growth and division. [31­32] Furthermore, in mammals there is a negative correlation between genome size and the rate of metabolism. [33] Bats have very high metabolic rates and relatively small genomes. [34­35] In birds, there is a negative correlation between C-value and resting metabolic rate. [36­37] In salamanders, there is also a negative correlation between genome size and the rate of limb regeneration. [38],,, "Under the traditional junk DNA and selfish DNA theories," Gregory wrote in 2005, "the relationship between genome size and cell size is considered purely coincidental." Since this approach is incapable of explaining the correlation between C-value and cell size, "the strictly coincidental interpretation has been rejected." [50] http://www.evolutionnews.org/2015/03/the_onion_test094301.htmlbornagain77
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Dear Dr. Cornelius. Evolution is at heart a tinkerer. Tinkerers at heart find uses for junk. Evolution: A Theory with a HeartMung
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