Re: Challenge for Darwinists - Protein Synthesis


Wall Of Sleep wrote:
SRNissen wrote:

<snip>

That's really where this debate should end. There are, on average, 175
mutations per diploid genome between each generation. You can whine
about harmful mutations as much as you like, it's not going to change
the fact that science pretty obviously shows that humans mutate. All the
time.


OK you've made your point and I stand corrected - if the mutation rate
per generation is really that high, then I was wrong. I'll have to look
into this a bit more.

Now that is a refreshing change on this group!

AIUI there are some 3-5 'actual' mutations per child. That presumably
is a consequence of the fact that only 1% of the c175 mutations
actually hit coding sequences.

Something else to consider: Statistically, every segment of DNA must
ultimately 'coalesce' on a (possibly different) common ancestor. It
becomes increasingly unlikely that ancestry is equally distributed in
the family tree the further back one goes. So without mutation, we
would all have the same sequence as that ancestor (this is even more
unavoidable for those of a religious persuasion, as we 'coalesce' on
Adam and Eve (or Noah)).

Furthermore, every generation an average of 37% of variation is lost,
in a steady state population. This is an unavoidable result of the
probabilities of the situation - every variant only has on average two
shots at getting into a child - it is competing with the equivalent
locus in the partner. This means that that which remains is
concentrated (which is also the reason why ancestry 'coalesces').
Statistically, all variation in an initially varying population will be
eliminated (in the absence of mutation) in (4 * population size)
generations.

So looked at either way - the origin of a sequence or the fate of
variants in a derived population - the existence and persistence of
variation proves the historic reality of ongoing mutation.


--
"Are we to believe that mere chance can accomplish that which has proven
quite impossible for the enlightened scientist to achieve? I regard
that notion as absurd!" John A. Davison, Ph.D. - AN EVOLUTIONARY
MANIFESTO: A NEW HYPOTHESIS FOR ORGANIC CHANGE
http://www.uvm.edu/~jdavison/davison-manifesto.html

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Question: How to recognize mutations
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