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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (1187)	6/26/2001 2:10:10 PM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

There has been a puzzle, almost a paradox, in evolution. It has been known for decades that the DNA sequences which code the proteins in life are digital in nature. This allows them to be reproduced faithfully generation after generation. There is a further digital cross check on the accuracy of the reproduction - Sex. Complex reproduction generally begins with the sexual union of DNA. During this union genes are copied and compared and the "best" copy is selected. What is "best"? - It is a copy with good gene markers for beginning and ending and is generally the copy from the healthier or more vigorous partner in the sexual union (although it is obviously not strictly that simple). This digital data with error correction is very good at making very faithful reproductions of the parents. The paradox is that evolution at times acts quickly on a geologic timescale. These punctuated events of change are in contrast to the meticulous accuracy of reproduction. A change in an organism implies a change in the proteins that make up that organism and it was thought this required a change in the genes or a new mixing of genes between the sexual partners. Not so it seems. The genes with their DNA encoded start and stop sequences appear to mark protein making subroutines. The subroutines mutate and change very slowly as would be expected by the digital reproduction. The DNA between genes, formerly thought to be junk apparently acts in this analogy, like parameters to those subroutines, modifying the resulting protein encoded by the gene. During reproduction these "junk" areas are more susceptable to change, blending, mutation, and regression to the mean, than is a gene sequence (The junk areas do not have markers and so must be cut, spliced, and exchanged more at random than a gene which has a define start, stop, and consistency checks). The mechanism for punctuation as well as equilibrium is now better understood. psrast.org enn.com A recent study has shown that eukaryotic non-coding DNA (also called "secondary DNA) is functional as a structural element in the nucleus. jps.net lauralee.com Instead of having DNA packed with tens of thousands of new genes that make people different from mice, fruit flies and worms, it seems we have relatively few genes -- just 30,000 or 40,000, TP