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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: average joe who wrote (9667)	3/23/2001 8:42:56 PM
From: cosmicforce	Respond to of 82486

From the gene's point of view, it was successful for the gene: it got into the gene pool. The reason we notice this is because it is marginally successful and not completely successful (i.e., always beneficial). If it was a genetic mutation on a non-sex cell it would not have been heritable, therefore non-successful. Sickle cell anemia comes from homozygous alleles for a type "S" protein. This protein, if heterozygous, it is leaves the patient asymptomatic and protected from malaria and more likely to carry that gene forward. What criterion (criteria) are you using for genetic success? Hemophilia could become a successful gene under some possibly unforseeable circumstances (perhaps protective from a blood-born pathogen). Another example of common ancestry separated by a few genetic mutations : Kaibab vs. Abert squirrels of Grand Canyon's Kaibab Plateau.