Posted on 10/03/2006 7:19:46 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the presence of a key protein in the compound eyes of the fruit fly (which glow at center due to a fluorescent protein) allows the formation of distinct light gathering units in each of its 800 unit eyes, an evolutionary change to an “open system” that enabled insects to make significant improvements in visual acuity and angular sensitivity. In contrast, beetles (shown surrounding the fruit fly), bees and many mosquito species have the light-gathering units fused together into a “closed system.”
In a paper published in this week's early online edition of the journal Nature, the scientists report that one of three proteins needed to form these light gathering units is present in the visual system of fruit flies, house flies and other insects with open eye systems, but conspicuously absent in beetles, bees and other species with closed systems. The researchers showed that the loss of this protein, called “spacemaker,” can convert the eyes of fruitflies — which normally have open eye systems — into a closed one. In contrast, the introduction of spacemaker into eyes with a closed system transformed them into an open one.
Charles Darwin was so enamored by the intricate complexity of the eye that he wondered how it could have evolved. “These results help illustrate the beauty and power of evolution and show how ‘little steps’—like the presence of a single structural protein—can so spectacularly account for major changes in form and function,” said Charles Zuker, a professor of biology and neurosciences at UCSD and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, who headed the research team.
Andrew Zelhof, a postdoctoral researcher working in Zuker's laboratory, was the first author of the study, which also involved Robert Hardy and Ann Becker of UCSD. The research was supported by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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From my observation, two have stop lights and two have go lights. So now we have traffic control.
If you're interested in learning about evolution, visit The List-O-Links.
If you'd like to understand the concept of speciation, visit Micro-evolution, Macro-evolution, and Speciation.
If you're serious about debating this issue, see How to argue against a scientific theory.
More evidence of evolution.
Darwin: 17,823,592
God: 0
I do not believe it possible to derive a score for God. It can be stated that the score for creationists is 0, but I have yet to see demonstrated that -- despite their assertions -- they actually speak on behalf of any real deities.
Only if you consider the two to be mutually exclusive. : )
This is a great article, in any case.
Or it was just made that way.
"Discovering" the way something currently is has nothing to do with proof that it changed by itself.
YEC INTREP
Darwin: 17,823,592 God: Creationists/ID: 0
Also that number for Darwin seems just a little low.
Also that number for Darwin seems just a little low.
Because every similarity between any two creatures "proves" Darwin. Interesting point system.
subtraction of an exsisting protien yeilding "closed" not too impressive (hardly address gain of information on demostrates a loss of information), far more impressive would have been to show beetles eyes could gain this protein and become "open"
Darwin saying: “To suppose that the eye...". See post 7.
Darwin's letter to Asa Gray" “The eye to this day gives me a cold shudder.”. See post 14.
No, this similarity makes a prediction about the biogeographical distribution of species, the temporal an geographical locations of specific fossils, and the location of particular artifacts in disparate genomes which can be (and have been) verified in later finds.
What specific predictions does the creationist 'model' make?
What kind of prediction does Creation need to make?
Creation predicts that the human condition will devolve. Have you noticed how many people around you are fat, ugly, wear glasses, are in wheelchairs, can't reproduce, have heart desease, have extreme allergies, etc etc etc. There is a prediction that creation makes that you see coming true all around you.
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