When the genetic coding scheme of the human being was first
announced around AD 2000 the popular science media and the evolutionary biology
establishment gave the impression that all manner of genetic diseases would now
be curable and that all the useful DNA was concentrated in about 1.5% of the
DNA in the nucleus of a cell. This 1.5% was
the part of the DNA which has protein- coding genes – i.e. instructions for the
protein manufacturing process which occurs within the ribosome, a kind of
factory, located in the cytoplasm which exists within the space between the nucleus and membrane of a cell. The rest was
believed by many evolutionary biologists to be junk and evidence of the
inefficiency of nature in evolving life – evidence, many said, that evolution
is a blind, mindless process, a story of self-replicating machines running amok
and creating the illusion of order and purpose.
Within only a few years the initial hubris was found to be
entirely unjustified. There was little progress in dealing with heredity
disorders and diseases and it became obvious that processes were occurring
which could not be explained by the extant models.
The naming of 98.5 % of the DNA as junk was bad science,
i.e. a dogmatic adherence to a blind watchmaker view of evolution rather than a
strong suspicion that this so-called junk may well have a function. Those who
did suspect this were proved right.
Common digital signatures were detected in junk DNA from
different specimens of different species, from different generations of the
same species and from patients with the same genetic disorders. It rapidly
became clear that meaningful processes of some kind were occurring in what many
had thought to be a functional desert;
but nobody could have predicted just how breathtakingly complex and orchestrated
were these processes.
The reality of this paradigm shift in perception of the
sub-cellular, sub-genetic and
epigenetic processes which go on inside
a cell is now being assimilated as the findings of the ENCODE project attract
the attention of biologists, science journalists and the public. My impression
is that the findings are so worldview-shattering that many evolutionary
biologists are stunned into a (hopefully temporary) state of denial.
ENCODE stands for the encyclopaedia of DNA elements, and this
programme was devoted to studying just the human genome. It was started
in 2003 and involved over 1600 research projects by 400 scientists in 32 labs
in the USA, UK, Japan, Spain and Singapore and the bulk of the results were
released early in 2012.
It showed that 80% of
the genome consists of 4 million genetic switches together with mechanisms for
controlling where, when, in what dynamic configuration and how much of a particular
protein will be produced. Over 300 years of computer time were used and there
was deep cross referencing via the internet between the open access journals Nature,
Science, Genome Research and Genome Biology. The fact that there is
a highly structured set of data open to any researcher to use should lead to a
cascade of new findings in quite a short time.
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http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7414/images/489052a-f1.2.jpg |
This still leaves about 20% of the human genome totally
unexplored and no doubt scientists are already working on it. And when some of the present mysteries have been 'solved' another whole layer of mystery will unfold before us. Given the history of science I think that is a reasonable assumption.
How the theory of evolution will itself evolve is impossible
to say but I suspect that ENCODE, and similar projects on DNA and the thousands
of processes that go on in the cell, will
reveal that learning from the environment can be passed down the generations,
i.e. that evolution is far from a blind, chance-driven mechanism. Evidence along these lines is already emerging in mainstream journals and falls within the province of epigenetics. In particular each gene is not a single entity but comprises dozens of functional units.
On the medical front research is now able to move very fast because we now know that the genes themselves are only a small part of the overall picture. Treatments will be able to be tailored to individuals both for rare diseases involving single genes and for more widespread ailments associated with groups of genes.
On the medical front research is now able to move very fast because we now know that the genes themselves are only a small part of the overall picture. Treatments will be able to be tailored to individuals both for rare diseases involving single genes and for more widespread ailments associated with groups of genes.
Reach me at cosmik.jo@gmail.com
