Posted on 12/25/2014 4:40:58 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Using the tools of paleogenetics, scientists have recently traced the evolutionary history of an enzyme that helps us metabolize ethanol, the principal type of alcohol found in adult beverages. Scientists believe early human ancestors evolved their ethanol-digesting ability about 10 million years ago to fortify their diet as they shifted from a tree-based lifestyle to a more ground-based lifestyle...
To help narrow that range, researchers studied the genetic evolution of alcohol-metabolizing enzyme ADH4, which has been present in primates, in one form or another, for at least 70 million years. Using genetic sequences from 28 different mammals, including 17 primates, the researchers were able to work backward and create a sort of family tree for ADH4.
To see how the past versions would have worked, researchers then synthesized nine different ADH4 proteins and tested their ethanol-busting properties.
Nearly all of the ADH4 enzymes from our primate ancestors were inactive -- meaning they didn't break down ethanol. However, about 10 million years ago, when orangutans and human ancestors diverged, things changed dramatically. A single amino acid alteration made ADH4 able to metabolize ethanol 40 times better than before.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.discovermagazine.com ...
Yes, but birds ‘run hot’ and metabolize very fast.
I had a little sparrow who really loved his tiny thimble of wine, now and then. (He sang along with Perry Como, in the early ‘nineties, while I was listening to a TV broadcast of Como’s last live performance....)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Como%27s_Christmas_Concert
-JT
“All they had to do was eat overripe berries, like birds have done for millennia.”
And THAT is why birds are always high as kites.
The wings were not made on purpose, or for any reason, they just happened because tiny genetic changes occurred and wound up being useful at some point.
What Darwin proposed is not right. There was no new genetic information expressed in his finches or the black black/gray squirrels documented later. It was expression of existing genetic information, Mendel was a better scientist. Darwins finches “evolved” back to earlier beak types as the environment changed they did not evolve through randomness. LET ME REPEAT, THERE WAS NO NEW GENETIC INFORMATION.
There has been no documentation of a method for random new genetic information except the ninja turtles and other comic books. Now if you disagree with me you might willing to test your theory by standing in a nuclear reactor, that will introduce some randomness for you and your maybe children...........
Well said. I agree completely.
“Birds fly, men drink.”
I'm no expert either, but I've recently been attending some university level classes that I think help me understand what is going on.
Evolution is random, right?
The original mutation can be considered random to at least some extent, but that's only part of the process, and a lot of the rest of it isn't random. Whether that mutation continues in the gene pool, or vanishes, is a lot less random.
So, the fact that humans COULD metabolize ADH4 does not in any way provide evidence that we were consuming alcohol, right?
No, but the fact that that mutation persisted and became dominant suggests there was an advantage to it. And as the ability to metabolise alcohol has obvious advantages in terms of opening up a wider variety of food sources (a primary need), it would be considered a reasonable assumption. A mathematical certainty? No. But with ever increasing numbers over time with the mutation, you'd expect it to have an effect reasonably quickly (on an evolutionary timescale).
10 million -12 if they were drinking decent Scotch.
“Evolution is random, right? It’s not like a species decides: “I’d like to fly” and then, over millions of years, it develops wings. In fact, a species may experience genetic drift sort of “in the direction of” wings.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The way it was explained to me was that after many generations of an animal stretching it’s head and neck to reach the fruit on a tree, then voila- A giraffe is evolved!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“The giraffe was one of the many species first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. He gave it the binomial name Cervus camelopardalis. Morten Thrane Brünnich classified the genus Giraffa in 1772.[14] In the early 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck believed the giraffe’s long neck was an “acquired characteristic”, developed as generations of ancestral giraffes strove to reach the leaves of tall trees.[15] This theory was eventually rejected, and scientists now believe the giraffe’s neck arose through Darwinian natural selection—that ancestral giraffes with long necks thereby had a competitive advantage that better enabled them to reproduce and pass on their genes.[15]”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe
Closer to 10 million years ago, because primates have been eating fruit fermented on the tree and on the ground ever since they acquired the genetic means to digest such fruit. Mammals like sweet foods, and sweet foods ferment to produce alcohols.
Maybe they were created with the means to digest alcohol?
“Don’t drink and drive. You might hit a bump and spill it”
-Dean Martin
I love this:)
:)
Yes, Well; they couldn’t float an iron boat, either...until they figured out the logistics :-)
Happy New Year!
JT
Soon after Adam and Eve were run out of the Garden, they figured out how to make alcohol. First they used grapes, and then discovered it could be made from all sorts of stuff. The real challenge was figuring out how to brew beer, or distill different brews into stronger stuff without poisoning themselves, the kids and grand kids. ...Now according to some, this could have been as much as 12000 years ago, or maybe around 4000 years ago, but whatever it was, Noah drank enough to pass out in his tent, and there are days I can sympathize with him.
Just fun’n around. But in all seriousness, the great moment came when someone figured out how to use charred oak and apple wood to age the stuff. Oh yeah, and when they figured out how to use malt.
If you can get plastered and still survive the lions and hyenas you must be pretty smart right? The dumb ones get weeded out pretty quick. lol
> that would veer toward Lamarckism, right?
Aye, there’s the rub.
Thanks all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.