Re: OT: interest in UFOlogy

On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:56:24 -0800 (PST), ELF
<michael.w.fisher@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

What do you know about transgenics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenics
--
Howard

All life on earth is related through lines of common descent.

The further back in time it has been since two species have shared an
ancestor, the more divergent their genes are.

But.

All life works on the same basic biochemistry, and some molecules have
a far more restricted functional space than others, i.e. any change to
the composition of certain molecules -- the one I recall off hand
being Cytochrome C. It is a critical component of cell metabolism and
any changes tend to be fatal to the organism, so it evolves very
slowly:

"Cytochrome c is a highly conserved protein across the spectrum of
species, found in plants, animals, and many unicellular organisms.
This, along with its small size (molecular weight about 12,000
daltons), makes it useful in studies of evolutionary divergence. Its
primary structure consists of a chain of 100 amino acids.

The cytochrome c molecule has been studied for the glimpse it gives
into evolutionary biology. Both chickens and turkeys have the
identical molecule (amino acid for amino acid) within their
mitochondria, whereas ducks possess molecules differing by one amino
acid. Similarly, both humans and chimpanzees have the identical
molecule, while rhesus monkeys possess cytochromes differing by one
amino acid."

Cytochrome C is so important that every euchorytic (oxygen using)
cell has the same basic chemical --- and therefore has the same basic
genes preserved in its DNA.

So us and sequoia trees and slime molds share some very similar genes.

And that's why transgenics works. The basic machinery of the cell is
similar enough that if you can get a few genes from one organism to
integrate into the DNA of another, the target species cells may be
able to manufacture the (usually) protein coded for.

But that a wholly alien species would even be using DNA for its genes
would indeed be amazing, that the rest of the details of their
biochemistry would also be almost identical with ours just boggles the
mind. Yet without that close similarity, there is no way you could
drop a bit of DNA into a cell and expect anything to happen.

elf

You are guessing at what may or may not be possible. But they are
already growing human organs on other species, and they are modifying
plants with animal DNA. What they are already doing is comparable to
The Island of Dr Moreau. If there are super intelligences visiting
Earth, then what might they do with life forms on earth?
--
Howard
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: religion and the brain
    ... >>Molecules, organic or otherwise, only form under correct environmental ... as researchers are currently doing at the amino acid and other ... I see no need to explain DNA ... I have no faith in this explanation whatsoever. ...
    (sci.cognitive)
  • SPECULATIONS ON THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE
    ... first, life originated deep in the Earth's crust, in water ... DNA/RNA systems since DNA chains, in the double helix form, are ... Third, in time, some species of DNA/RNA systems developed or evolved ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: Humans, chimps, wheat and frogs
    ... homologs present in both species. ... conserved) sequences are a tiny minority of the genome, ... an assay of junk DNA. ... of the numbers you have quoted have anything to do with counting indels. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Evolution Theory Has Scientificly Collapsed
    ... plants and simple dna type organisms.) ... What non-dna type organisms are you aware of? ... You know, anything above species level is macro, below species is ... Different species have slightly different sequences, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Evolution Theory Has Scientificly Collapsed
    ... plants and simple dna type organisms.) ... What non-dna type organisms are you aware of? ... You know, anything above species level is macro, below species is ... gene by a linear sequence of the four bases. ...
    (talk.origins)
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