Posted on 04/03/2008 3:34:56 AM PDT by BGHater
As if that would work.
Think mummified rather than fossilized. These are dry cave deposits.
At Meadowcroft, yes.
They also did mitochondrial DNA which makes it much easier to get a good sample and arrive at a consensus sequence.
Genomic DNA is only one copy per cell. Mitochondrial DNA is in thousands of copies per cell.
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.
Donald Rumsfeld
I guess the new data will have to doodoo in loo of any additional crap.
Good point but I’ve read mtDNA has other great qualities for this kind of research i.e high mutation rates, direct maternal lineage, non-recombinant etc. Great stuff, I’d like to learn more.
Information on the subject is easy to find, if perhaps not that easy to understand. If you have any questions ask me. I used to work for the lab that did mitochondrial analysis to identify the Vietnam veteran in the tomb of the unknown soldier.
“Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier, Known but to God.”
About the tomb of the unknown, That is too cool. About DNA, Thanks for offering to answer a question. At my level of learning I try to read the journals as best I can. Its the abbreviations and jargon I find difficult. I try to stay out of the nuts and bolts of the chemistry. Do you think selection studies and/or epigenetics will pose a threat to these mtDNA derived migration theories?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3252156?dopt=Abstract
From nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial and chloroplast genes the probable frequency of the CpG——TpG + CpA substitutions was determined. These substitutions may indicate the level of prior DNA methylation. It was found that the level of this methylation is significantly lower in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and chloroplast DNA (chDNA) than in nuclear DNA (nDNA) of the same species. The species (taxon) specificity of mtDNA and chDNA methylation was revealed. A correlation was found between the level of CpG methylation in nDNA, and mtDNA and chDNA in different organisms. It is shown that cytosine residues in CpG were not subjected to significant methylation in the fungi and invertebrate mtDNA and also in the algae chDNA. In contrast, the vertebrate mtDNA bears the impress of CpG-supression, which is confirmed by direct data on methylation of these DNA. Here the first data on the possible enzymatic methylation of the plant mtDNA and chDNA were obtained. It was shown that the degree of CpG-suppression in the 5S rRNA nuclear genes of lower and higher plants is significantly higher in the chloroplast genes of 4,5S and 5S rRNA. From data on pea chDNA hydrolysis with MspI and HpaII it was established that in CCGG sequences this DNA is not methylated. The role of DNA methylation in increasing the mutation rate and in accelerating the evolutionary rates of vertebrate mtDNA is discussed.
Thanks. If I’m following, it looks like these particular “gifts” were laid down in the latrine area of the cave then almost immediately sealed off somehow from the outside world. Is that about the size of it? A thought wandered by, could it also be these turds were covered by the, er, depositor — sortof like yer average house cat attempts to do after making a deposit??? There would be certain advantages to the inhabitants of the cave, eh?
Wouldn't be a bit surprised. And with the dry environment they were mummified for posterity.
Fewmet the guy who left it behind, but they may have had to go as well.
Thanks for that. I notice the full article is in Russian.
“moms and dads change the methylation pattern of the DNA they pass down to enhance their own particular reproductive strategies”
Certainly something like this must have happened in a very small population under severe selection pressure (like Berengia).
This doesn't seem to be the case. The authors are calling this the result of “Aeolian” forces (i.e the wind). They're claiming the wind blew dirt and debris into the cave where the extremely dry conditions preserved it.
Sortof windy in the cave, eh??? I don't find the part you mentioned, is there another article somewhere I haven't seen???
Anyway, it would seem to me the simpler the explanation, the better. I mean, since they're grasping for an explanation and all -- Occam's Razor and such. Someone else mentioned a rock fall/collapse that may have covered the turd in question. A side note, the area in and around Oregon is not exactly a desert, at least the present climate, so the "extremely dry" part doesn't seem to fit. I dunno; the whole thing smells.
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