The Origin of Novelty

Blue Jay writes:You have to admit that, on face value, it does seem uncannily fortuitous.

Mindspawn writes:But I believe biological life is restricted to the last 6500 years

mindspawn writes:I don't see any logic in that line of reasoning. If there was an intelligent designer, and He did create all life-forms 6500 years ago, there is nothing in the observance of phenotypes or genotypes that contradicts this view.

Dr A writes:Actually, I wonder if that's evidence that he's a deliberate troll.

Abstract
We previously reported high deltamethrin resistance in bed bugs, Cimex lectularius, collected from multiple areas of the United States (Romero et al., 2007). Recently, two mutations, the Valine to Leucine mutation (V419L) and the Leucine to Isoleucine mutation (L925I) in voltage-gated sodium channel α-subunit gene, had been identified to be responsible for knockdown resistance (kdr) to deltamethrin in bed bugs collected from New York (Yoon et al., 2008). The current study was undertaken to investigate the distribution of these two kdr mutations in 110 bed bug populations collected in the United States. Out of the 17 bed bug populations that were assayed for deltamethrin susceptibility, two resistant populations collected in the Cincinnati area and three deltamethrin-susceptible lab colonies showed neither of the two reported mutations (haplotype A). The remaining 12 populations contained L925I or both V419L and L925I mutations in voltage-gated sodium channel α-subunit gene (haplotypes B&C). In 93 populations that were not assayed for deltamethrin susceptibility, 12 contained neither of the two mutations (haplotype A) and 81 contained L925I or V419L or both mutations (haplotypes B-D). Thus, 88% of the bed bug populations collected showed target-site mutations. These data suggest that deltamethrin resistance conferred by target-site insensitivity of sodium channel is widely spread in bed bug populations across the United States. 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

mindspawn writes:i do want to discuss mutation, have specifically requested a few times in this thread that we do discuss mutation. It evolutionists fixation with mutations that seems to blind you to other possiblities when you see two populations that vary. Its obvious that through sexual reproduction new allele frequencies can become common. To assume a positive mutation rather than a rare allelle becoming common is to take the LESS likely conclusion. Allele frequencies change even seasonally with flies, and so why assume a mutation when we have a common mechanism that would show the same results.

Pyrethroid insecticides target the sodium channels within the insect nervous system. Point mutations in the sodium channels, termed the kdr mutations, reduce or eliminate the binding affinity of insecticides to sodium channels causing insecticide resistance6. Two mutations, V419L and L925I, in voltage-gated sodium channel α-subunit gene had been identified as very important substitutions responsible for deltamethrin resistance in bed bugs21, 30. A causal link between one or both mutations and deltamethrin resistance was reported21. A dual-primer Allele-Specific PCR (dASPCR) approach was developed to identify these two kdr mutations. Two PCR reactions performed with Susceptible Allele-Specific Primer (SASP) and Resistant Allele-Specific Primer (RASP) primers conclusively show status of kdr mutations (Fig. 2A).