Posted on 01/05/2009 12:30:28 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
Even Parasite Genes Look Young
by Brian Thomas, M.S.*
The parasite Trichinella spiralis is commonly dated as being around 20 million years old. A recent DNA study by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists, however, has yielded some surprising results.
T. spiralis causes trichinosis in humans when they eat undercooked pork that has juvenile forms of the worm encysted within the pig muscle. The USDA scientists collected and analyzed samples of Trichinella DNA from 28 countries. If the parasite is indeed millions of years old, then the different geographical locations should yield distinct groups that retain ancient familial mutations.
However, “the scientists were surprised to find that parasite samples from Europe, North Africa and the Americas had remarkably uniform DNAs. In fact, statistical analyses grouped all 44 samples from all evaluated regions into a single ‘Western’ group of T. spiralis, due to the high degree of genetic similarity.”1
In other words, instead of finding genetically and geographically identifiable groups, they found that all these worms were so similar as to still belong to just one group. The worms, sampled from around the world and yet without the evolutionarily predicted mutational differences, appear as though they have not evolved.
One good explanation for why they have accumulated so few mutations is that these worms, along with all other living things, have only been around for thousands, not millions of years. As previously reported, remarkable similarities between the raw sequences (like words in a book) as well as organizational structures (like book chapters) of human DNA demonstrate the youthfulness of humankind.2, 3, 4 The genetics of the lowly trichina worm is further support for the biblical model of a young earth.
References
Perry, A. Humans Prompted New Paths for Parasites. U.S. Department of Agriculture press release, November 25, 2008.
Thomas, B. Why Are Human Genes Still Linked? ICR News. Posted on icr.org August 6, 2008, accessed December 17, 2008.
Criswell, D. 2008. ABO Blood and Human Origins. Acts & Facts. 37 (2): 10.
Morris, J. 2006. How Old Is Life? Acts & Facts. 35 (6).
ping!
“The worms, sampled from around the world and yet without the evolutionarily predicted mutational differences, appear as though they have not evolved.”
Could just as easily be an article about liberals...lol
Good one!!!!
They’re parasites! What do you expect????????....Change?????...........
Thanks for the ping!
Here's the actual conclusion;
The team concluded that human travel was the primary source of disseminating T. spiralis throughout the New World. They also believe that these migration patterns explain the limited range of genetic diversity observed in the European, North African and the American isolates of T. spiralis.
Since the purpose for the research was "...tracking how the dissemination of the parasite Trichinella spiralis throughout Europe, North Africa and the Americas was facilitated by human travel and the transportation of animals," it's not surprising.
The organisms they looked at were part of the same population in the last few thousands of years. Not much time to evolve.
This article is remarkably silly by even ICR standards.
If you read the actual report on the scientific study that the ICR cites:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081129151143.htm
The scientists concluded that the trichinella parasite was spread around the world in the last several thousands of years by humans transporting swine, providing an obvious explanation why the DNA is so similar that’s not some sort of smoking gun against evolution.
He read the ICR's perversion of an article, which conveniently omitted the facts you mention from the source that it cited.
Looks like the researchers have disproved the Young Earth Creationist “Theory.”
Good Work!
Being parasites, there’s not much incentive to evolve if the host(s) never change...........kinda like welfare recipients............
Based on evolutionary expectations, they should have diverged significantly after 20 MILLION YEARS!
One good explanation for why they have accumulated so few mutations is that these worms, along with all other living things, have only been around for thousands, not millions of years.
Yep....this little perversion of a research article means there were no dinosaurs of any kind until "thousands" of years ago....and they all were wiped out by.............
Lemme guess......6,000 years?
Based on evolutionary expectations............but they didn’t...............so much for Great Expectations..........
“is further support for the biblical model of a young earth. “
The Bible does not present a young Earth model. The fact that you believe it does, does not make it so.
There are solid Christians on both sides of this issue. It would be more accurate to state that this find supports a young Earth model that some (but not all) Christians believe is described by the Bible.
Ummm....the portion of the article ICR left out mentioned that humans had spread the parasites around themselves in the last few thousand years by taking pigs with them - thus there weren’t trichinella parasites scattered all over the world 20 million years ago.
Actually glad this was posted because this thus demonstrates how the ICR goes out of its way to deliberately deceive - they trust that their audience will not to read the sources they selectively quote.
They should change the name of their group to Institute of Creative Thinking.
It appears that very little of what they do involves research, unless extracting selected passages from OTHER people’s research and then twisting that and elaborating it beyond what was originally intended can be legitimately called research.
The incredible thing about these people is that they pin their entire faith in the Bible to a few select single passages in just one book of the Bible and assume that anyone who disagrees with their interpretation of those
passages is an atheist.
Its like the Inquisition rises from the grave.
Wow. Is this how far ICR (and by association, GGG) has stooped. This article is just laughable for several different reasons.
Why does the author have an asterisk after his Masters designation? Why does he cite 3 other ICR articles to bolster his.
More importantly, why does he blatantly lie about what the original article states and leap to absurdist conclusions about a young earth which trumps the Onion for absurdist humor?
GGG, please, read the original study and save some face. Geeze.
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