One of the most common tests evolutionists use, when studying how genes are supposed to have evolved, is to compare the non-synonymous and synonymous genetic differences. That is, if a gene that codes for a particular protein is found in several species, then evolutionists interpret differences in the gene, across those species, as the result of mutations in the evolutionary process. And while most mutations cause a change in the resulting protein amino acid sequence, some mutations do not affect the amino acid that is coded for. These two kinds of mutations are referred to as non-synonymous and synonymous, respectively, and their relative proportions are important to evolutionists. They believe that the while the non-synonymous mutations are important, because they change the resulting protein, the synonymous mutations on the other hand are not important. Therefore, if the ratio of the non-synonymous to synonymous mutations is high, then evolutionists think most of the mutations are important and so the gene is undergoing strong selection which is driving significant evolutionary change. But if the ratio of the non-synonymous to synonymous mutations is low, then evolutionists think most of the mutations are not important and so the gene is undergoing purifying selection which rejects most changes because the lower fitness. In that case the synonymous mutations occur merely because they don’t change the protein. As you can see this entire approach is deeply wedded to evolutionary assumptions and its main result is an inference about how genes evolved. If evolution is true then that is useful information, but if not then the entire exercise is a waste. Well for several years evidence has been growing that this approach and its results do, in fact, have much less meaning than evolutionists believe and, as we discussed here, there is a much better way. Read more
4 Replies to “Here is That New Paper on Synonymous Nucleotides”
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Besides falsifying evolutionary presuppositions about synonymous mutations, there is another finding in this paper that places further constraint on neo-Darwinian evolution:
Besides multifunctionality being found for synonymous positions, it is now found, by ENCODE, that the majority of protein coding regions are ‘overlapping’ with one another:
It is readily apparent that this ‘overlapping multifunctionality’ places severe constraint on Darwinian evolution:
If we were to actually get a proper ‘beneficial mutation’ in a ‘overlapping multifunctional’ gene we would be encountering something akin to this illustration found on page 141 of the book “Genetic Entropy” by Dr. Sanford.
Which is translated ;
THE SOWER NAMED AREPO HOLDS THE WORKING OF THE WHEELS.
This ancient puzzle, which dates back to 79 AD, reads the same four different ways. Thus, if we change (randomly mutate) any single letter we may get a new meaning for a single reading read any one way but we will consistently destroy the other 3 readings (functions) of the message with the new mutation (save for the center letter).
For Darwinist to continue to believe in ‘random’ mutations to generate the staggering level of ‘overlapping multifunctionality’ we find in life is absurd in the highest order!
As to Theistic Evolutionists(TEs), who believe God guides evolution in a ‘bottom up’ fashion, (apparently in a way that is undetectable to humans), all I ask TEs to consider is do you think that it would be easier for God to incrementally change a ‘overlapping multifunctional’ gene of any organism in a bottom up manner or do you think it would be easier for Him to design each kind of organism in a top down manner? Especially considering the fact that many genes are usually associated for any given phenotypic trait?
Notes:
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Moreover, it should be noted that,,,
Yet, as radical as that ‘redefinition to the RNA transcript,’ of the fundamental unit of inheritance would be to undermining the entire edifice of the modern synthesis upon which neo-Darwinism is built (genetic reductionism), the fact of the matter is, as much as I would love to see that undermining happen, that these current findings present us with yet another irreducibly complex situation in that ANY changes to DNA nucleotides, as Dr. Hunter has pointed out, effect RNA in a multifunctional way, yet, on the other hand, the RNA is regulating the gene in a multifunctional way.,,, Needless to say, this puts neo-Darwinists, once again, between the proverbial ‘rock and a hard place’!,,,
Perhaps, after getting beat to a pulp with the rock of empirical evidence time after time, it is time for Darwinists to choose to ‘work with with the rock’ instead of choosing to get repeatedly beat to a pulp with it?
Music, verse and video:
But to the unwise???,,, well perhaps this cartoon will help get the point across,,,
OT: Free will: Philosopher Alvin Plantinga responds to New Atheist’s book denying free will –
Denyse O’Leary
http://www.thebestschools.org/.....ying-free/
Supplemental notes:
A genome-wide study of dual coding regions in human alternatively spliced genes. – 2006
Excerpt: Alternative splicing is a major mechanism for gene product regulation in many multicellular organisms. By using different exon combinations, some coding regions can encode amino acids in multiple reading frames in different transcripts. Here we performed a systematic search through a set of high-quality human transcripts and show that approximately 7% of alternatively spliced genes contain dual (multiple) coding regions.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16365380
Dual-Coding Genes in Mammalian Genomes – 2007
Excerpt: A textbook human gene encodes a protein using a single reading frame. Alternative splicing brings some variation to that picture, but the notion of a single reading frame remains. Although this is true for most of our genes, there are exceptions. Like viral counterparts, some eukaryotic genes produce structurally unrelated proteins from overlapping reading frames. The examples are spectacular (G-protein alpha subunit [Gnas1] or INK4a tumor suppressor), but scarce. The scarcity is anthropogenic in origin: we simply do not believe that dual-coding genes can occur in eukaryotes. To challenge this assumption, we performed the first genome-wide scan for mammalian genes containing alternative reading frames located out of frame relative to the annotated protein-coding region. Using a newly developed statistical framework, we identified 40 such genes. Because our approach is very conservative, this number is likely a significant underestimate, and future studies will identify more alternative reading frame–containing genes with fascinating biology.
http://www.plosone.org/article.....bi.0030091
A Simplified Description of DNA Methylation