Genetic Breakthrough that Reveals the Differences Between Humans

[gb63]

I've often wondered if someday we will discover the 'junk' is really useful codes. Reminds me of the ancient idea that the brain was a cooling place for the blood. So when making mummies, they would draw out the brains and throw them away, leaving only 'vital' things for the arising from the dead or the trip into the next world!

[gb63]

Funny, we have evidence we are 96% DNA compatible with chimps, yet on another FR thread we have an on-going debate about high-school students in trouble for writing that a local Taco Bell had customers that acted like a pack of monkeys...Go figure!

[Coyoteman]

I was under the impression that DNA testing could not tell if a dog was part wolf, altho that may no longer be true

There has been a lot of research in DNA, particularly mtDNA in the past ten years. Here are two good links:

Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog (its from the same site which you linked to)

Evolution of the family dog

[Wuli]

True scientists know that, each time we make some scientific "breakthrough", we have reached another point in which we now realize that we know far less than we thought we knew before the breakthrough and that the breakthrough has created far more new questions than the number of answers it resolved.

I have no hesitation is saying we still know far less than we think we do about the real workings of DNA.

[Hawthorn]

> I have no hesitation is saying we still know far less than we think we do about the real workings of DNA <

I share your sentiment. But there's a much bigger gap in our knowledge about proteins:

We know quite a lot about how DNA, working with RNA, codes for specific proteins. But its my impression that compared to what we know about DNA, we know next to nothing about the process by which these proteins generate specific organs and tissues.

So even if we should someday learn "everything" about DNA, it seems likely that we won't even be close to unlocking all the mysteries of life itself.

(But maybe a thousand years from today?)

[brytlea]

Interesting, thank you. I read thru it rather quickly, but is the gist that they could now do dna testing on a supposed wolf/dog hybrid and tell if it really was a combination of both?
susie

[cornelis]

But maybe a thousand years from today?

What exactly is the hope? Maybe some Fukuyamaist will write "The End of Science."

[Coyoteman]

but is the gist that they could now do dna testing on a supposed wolf/dog hybrid and tell if it really was a combination of both?

I think one of the critical paragraphs is:

The large number of different dog sequences, and the fact that no wolf sequences are found among them, suggests that dogs must have been separated from wolves for a long time.

This suggests that dog and wolf can be separated by the mtDNA sequences.

Now, the hard part. mtDNA is passed only from mother to daughter.

I would have to do a lot more study on this, but it may be that what you would call a dog, if it was a dog/wolf cross on the maternal lineage, would have wolf mtDNA.

This is one of the problems with mtDNA. I would like to see what the genetic DNA says as well.

Bottom line: its a very complex field, and it is progressing very rapidly. Most of the really advanced studies are less than 10 years old, and methods are improving increasingly rapidly.

My field deals, in part, with human mtDNA, and a lot of the interesting results are only 2-3 years old, or less, and many are not yet even in print. Things are changing that quickly.

Stay tuned!

[brytlea]

Thanks for the info. I understood genetics back in the olden days when it was all Mendal! It's gotten so much more complicated now! As a dog hobby breeder, sometimes I feel like the more we know the less we understand (as far as actually breeding *better* dogs--makes me feel pretty humble!)
Interesting about the mtDNA, I didn't think of that (altho I am familiar with the concept).
susie

[cornelis]

Don't know? I'll bet it's power. Human identification with knowledge that translates into power. The highest power is to overcome survival. The greatest survivor is eternal.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

http://agonist.org/node/36685/print
http://www.anapsid.org/cnd/diffdx/geneticvariance.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20061123/ai_n16861165
http://www.bioinformatics.org/forums/forum.php?forum_id=4810