Perhaps the source of the new "mutations" is intelligent design. With special thanks to author Robert J. Sawyer, here is a possible theory for the mutations:
More than ninety percent of human DNA is referred to as junk DNA: repetitive, nonsense sequences that don't code for protein synthesis (that's why they're assumed to be junk - the key job of DNA is to produce specific proteins). Many believe that the junk is presumably just deactivated leftovers from earlier stages in our evolution. The truth is junk DNA reveals not just our genetic past, but also our genetic future. That is, the junk DNA contains a blueprint not just of what we currently are and how we got there, but also of what we will eventually become - genetic destiny writ large.
Although junk DNA does indeed contains discarded instructions from earlier stages in our evolutionary history, the "junk" also plays an important role in ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny (the phenomenon by which human embryos briefly grow gills, a tail, and other reminders of our evolutionary past).
There exist a second layer of information on top of the traditional C,G,A,T base-pair DNA coding: the additional layer of information is related to the presence or absence of a methyl group, CH[sub-3], attached to the base cytosine (the "C" in C,G,A,T).
Although a well-known phenomenon, "cytosine methylation" is traditionally ignored in mapping DNA. But the methylation state is preserved in DNA reproduction, meaning it is faithfully copied from generation to generation - and therefore could code significant additional information into the DNA. The sequence of attached methyl groups inside the long strings of supposedly junk DNA form meaningful patterns. The binary pattern of presence or absence of methyl groups forms a complex algorithm for invoking what geneticists call "frameshift mutations".
Frameshifts occur when a nucleotide (e.g. one containing the base T) is unexpectedly added to or deleted from a DNA string. When that happens, the rest of the string is shifted along, causing the nucleotide triplets (which are the "words" of the genetic language) to be shuffled. So, if you take out the first "T" from a DNA string reading C-T-A-G-T-C-G, then instead of having the first two nucleotide triplets being C-T-A and G-T-C, they become C-A-G and T-C-G - a completely different genetic message. Although such frameshift mutations were previously thought to be random (and almost always detrimental), they can be invoked by natural processes, when RNA transcribes the "junk" DNA [RNA transcription is a key part of the procedure used to replicate DNA].
The kind of frameshift mutations that are caused by RNA transcription of "junk" DNA can only happen in females (they are negated by the presence of a Y chromosome), and only early on, when the female's lifetime supply of egg cells is being produced.
The DNA in mitochondria (which is not part of chromosomes, and is inherited solely from the mother) provides a checksum for random frameshift mutations. Mitochondria are small organelles within cells that contain their own DNA - DNA that is unrelated to normal heredity. A checksum is a simple mathematical procedure for verifying the integrity of a lengthy string of data - such as the genetic information coded in chromosomes.
If a frameshift occurs by accident (due to a random addition or loss of a base pair), the checksum sees to it that the DNA in the female's egg cells is corrected, so that the error in coding won't be passed on to the next generation. Only if the frameshift is invoked during RNA transcription of "junk" DNA does it get passed on to the egg cells.
Cells have a built-in mechanism to correct for random frameshifts, but still allow certain special frameshifts to be passed on. Those mutations had been waiting to be activated, the characteristics they coded for had been pre-programmed into the DNA.
The cytosine methylation encodes a kind of counter that increments very slowly - on the order of tens of thousands of years. The frameshift mutations and the evolutionary changes they cause were timed to occur throughout the ages.
Standard evolution is periodically assailed because of the lack of fossil evidence for missing links - intermediate stages halfway between one species and the next. To explain this away, paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould pushed a model of "punctuated equilibrium," in which environmental upheavals destabilize populations, and allow the offspring of only a handful of individuals with a mutant characteristic to rapidly become the new dominant form. But the theory of punctuated equilibrium has a big hole in it: it requires all members of the new species to be descended from a very few members of the previous species - meaning the entire new species arises from a very tiny gene pool. But tiny gene pools are recipes for disaster, as the inbreeding of royal families proves. However, with timed frameshifts occurring almost simultaneously in millions of members of a species, new species can arise safely without the dangerous narrowing of the gene pool.
The timed-frameshift proves the "multi-regional" model of human evolution, which contends that Homo sapiens emerged simultaneously in Africa and Asia, and Europe.
The frameshift coding doesn't just preserve a record of all that we have been. It also contains a blueprint for all that we are yet to become - all of humanity's future.
Frameshifting can occur accidentally through random mutations, but the checksum within the mitochondrial DNA ensures that when a premature frameshift occurs the mutation is eliminated in the next generation. This means that although there are no dynasties of evolutionary superior humans, occasionally, for a single generation, some will appear, giving us a sneak peek at a future pre-programmed evolutionary step for humanity.
And our so-called "heroes" are just those sort of individuals.
More than ninety percent of human DNA is referred to as junk DNA: repetitive, nonsense sequences that don't code for protein synthesis (that's why they're assumed to be junk - the key job of DNA is to produce specific proteins). Many believe that the junk is presumably just deactivated leftovers from earlier stages in our evolution. The truth is junk DNA reveals not just our genetic past, but also our genetic future. That is, the junk DNA contains a blueprint not just of what we currently are and how we got there, but also of what we will eventually become - genetic destiny writ large.
Although junk DNA does indeed contains discarded instructions from earlier stages in our evolutionary history, the "junk" also plays an important role in ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny (the phenomenon by which human embryos briefly grow gills, a tail, and other reminders of our evolutionary past).
There exist a second layer of information on top of the traditional C,G,A,T base-pair DNA coding: the additional layer of information is related to the presence or absence of a methyl group, CH[sub-3], attached to the base cytosine (the "C" in C,G,A,T).
Although a well-known phenomenon, "cytosine methylation" is traditionally ignored in mapping DNA. But the methylation state is preserved in DNA reproduction, meaning it is faithfully copied from generation to generation - and therefore could code significant additional information into the DNA. The sequence of attached methyl groups inside the long strings of supposedly junk DNA form meaningful patterns. The binary pattern of presence or absence of methyl groups forms a complex algorithm for invoking what geneticists call "frameshift mutations".
Frameshifts occur when a nucleotide (e.g. one containing the base T) is unexpectedly added to or deleted from a DNA string. When that happens, the rest of the string is shifted along, causing the nucleotide triplets (which are the "words" of the genetic language) to be shuffled. So, if you take out the first "T" from a DNA string reading C-T-A-G-T-C-G, then instead of having the first two nucleotide triplets being C-T-A and G-T-C, they become C-A-G and T-C-G - a completely different genetic message. Although such frameshift mutations were previously thought to be random (and almost always detrimental), they can be invoked by natural processes, when RNA transcribes the "junk" DNA [RNA transcription is a key part of the procedure used to replicate DNA].
The kind of frameshift mutations that are caused by RNA transcription of "junk" DNA can only happen in females (they are negated by the presence of a Y chromosome), and only early on, when the female's lifetime supply of egg cells is being produced.
The DNA in mitochondria (which is not part of chromosomes, and is inherited solely from the mother) provides a checksum for random frameshift mutations. Mitochondria are small organelles within cells that contain their own DNA - DNA that is unrelated to normal heredity. A checksum is a simple mathematical procedure for verifying the integrity of a lengthy string of data - such as the genetic information coded in chromosomes.
If a frameshift occurs by accident (due to a random addition or loss of a base pair), the checksum sees to it that the DNA in the female's egg cells is corrected, so that the error in coding won't be passed on to the next generation. Only if the frameshift is invoked during RNA transcription of "junk" DNA does it get passed on to the egg cells.
Cells have a built-in mechanism to correct for random frameshifts, but still allow certain special frameshifts to be passed on. Those mutations had been waiting to be activated, the characteristics they coded for had been pre-programmed into the DNA.
The cytosine methylation encodes a kind of counter that increments very slowly - on the order of tens of thousands of years. The frameshift mutations and the evolutionary changes they cause were timed to occur throughout the ages.
Standard evolution is periodically assailed because of the lack of fossil evidence for missing links - intermediate stages halfway between one species and the next. To explain this away, paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould pushed a model of "punctuated equilibrium," in which environmental upheavals destabilize populations, and allow the offspring of only a handful of individuals with a mutant characteristic to rapidly become the new dominant form. But the theory of punctuated equilibrium has a big hole in it: it requires all members of the new species to be descended from a very few members of the previous species - meaning the entire new species arises from a very tiny gene pool. But tiny gene pools are recipes for disaster, as the inbreeding of royal families proves. However, with timed frameshifts occurring almost simultaneously in millions of members of a species, new species can arise safely without the dangerous narrowing of the gene pool.
The timed-frameshift proves the "multi-regional" model of human evolution, which contends that Homo sapiens emerged simultaneously in Africa and Asia, and Europe.
The frameshift coding doesn't just preserve a record of all that we have been. It also contains a blueprint for all that we are yet to become - all of humanity's future.
Frameshifting can occur accidentally through random mutations, but the checksum within the mitochondrial DNA ensures that when a premature frameshift occurs the mutation is eliminated in the next generation. This means that although there are no dynasties of evolutionary superior humans, occasionally, for a single generation, some will appear, giving us a sneak peek at a future pre-programmed evolutionary step for humanity.
And our so-called "heroes" are just those sort of individuals.
