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Author Topic:   Do only advantageous mutations fuel evolution?
Parasomnium
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Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 17 of 28 (499536)
02-19-2009 5:40 AM
Reply to: Message 15 by Darwinist
02-19-2009 5:19 AM


Hindsight
Well, clearly a mutation can only be called advantageous or deleterious with hindsight. A mutation is advantageous if it has conferred (note the the use of the present perfect tense here) an advantage to the organism.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.
Did you know that most of the time your computer is doing nothing? What if you could make it do something really useful? Like helping scientists understand diseases? Your computer could even be instrumental in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. Wouldn't that be something? If you agree, then join World Community Grid now and download a simple, free tool that lets you and your computer do your share in helping humanity. After all, you are part of it, so why not take part in it?

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Parasomnium
Member
Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 20 of 28 (499552)
02-19-2009 7:10 AM
Reply to: Message 19 by Darwinist
02-19-2009 6:15 AM


Re: it's relative
Darwinist writes:
Is there then, no real such thing as a netral mutation?
That's too hasty a conclusion. Neutral mutations are possible. For example, there is such a thing as junk DNA, which is generally not expressed. How this junk DNA got into the genome is another story, but if a mutation happens in a piece of junk DNA, nothing happens as a result of it.
Another example of a neutral mutation would be a mutated codon that codes for the same amino acid as the original codon. Take the amino acid Alanine for example. The codon GCA codes for it. If the A is mutated into a G you get GCG. This also codes for Alanine. The resulting protein would be the same in either case, and you wouldn't notice the mutation in the organism that has it.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.
Did you know that most of the time your computer is doing nothing? What if you could make it do something really useful? Like helping scientists understand diseases? Your computer could even be instrumental in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. Wouldn't that be something? If you agree, then join World Community Grid now and download a simple, free tool that lets you and your computer do your share in helping humanity. After all, you are part of it, so why not take part in it?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 19 by Darwinist, posted 02-19-2009 6:15 AM Darwinist has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 22 by Wounded King, posted 02-19-2009 7:27 AM Parasomnium has replied

  
Parasomnium
Member
Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 23 of 28 (499557)
02-19-2009 7:41 AM
Reply to: Message 22 by Wounded King
02-19-2009 7:27 AM


Re: nit-picking
Wounded King writes:
Although as yet the functional roles of all these regions are not clear some have been shown to mediate regulation of nearby genes (Sabherwal et al., 2007).
Wouldn't that be a form of expression as well, although indirect?

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Replies to this message:
 Message 24 by Wounded King, posted 02-19-2009 8:03 AM Parasomnium has replied

  
Parasomnium
Member
Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 25 of 28 (499571)
02-19-2009 8:43 AM
Reply to: Message 24 by Wounded King
02-19-2009 8:03 AM


Re: nit-picking
Its the regulation of expression but the sequences themselves are never expressed.
If the raison d'etre of some piece of DNA is the regulation of neighboring pieces, then if it does so, that would constitute its expression, right? (We are nit-picking after all... Just ignore this.)
[W]hy are [CNEs] conserved?
Because they're good at causing themselves to be copied? Most "functional" genes use the complete organism as a means to get themselves copied and spread around. Maybe the CNEs are just hitching a ride? (Selfish gene talk, Dawkins and all that.)

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
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