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To: Stultis
How do you figure that? It seems to suggest the flexibility and adaptability of the genome, creating more possiblities, rather than problems, for evolution.

I guess it depends on how you look at it. With gene silencing you have a dramatic change by subtraction -- an order is given via RNA to stop a protein production and create a new characteristic.

Information must be added to a genome -- wings, thumbs, sexual reproduction --for common descent to be true. Dramatic changes in species is considered to be evidence of common descent.

That dramatic change is caused -- in some cases anyway -- by subtraction is an argument against the common wisdom.

But understand that in no way I'm claiming this disproves your position.

9 posted on 08/10/2002 6:14:49 PM PDT by Tribune7
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To: Tribune7
I guess it depends on how you look at it. With gene silencing you have a dramatic change by subtraction -- an order is given via RNA to stop a protein production and create a new characteristic.

This brings up a question I have yet to get answered: What exactly are you measuring when you measure "information" WRT our bodies? The length of the genome, the number of genes, the number of proteins, or what? Here's an example of an increased number of coding sequences (the gene + later the disabling RNAi snippet) that cause a decrease in the number of proteins created.

Or looked at another way, you have a function (the gene) that previously would be activated when (A [the promoter region getting triggered] == TRUE), but is now activated when (A AND B == TRUE). That's a more complex expression that's being evaluated, but it would == TRUE less often than before. Is that a gain or loss of information?

Or looked at yet another way, if I start out with Snippet 1 below, and change it to Snippet 2, have I increased or decreased the information?:

// Snippet 1...
<script language="javascript">
oMsg = new String ("This is a message.");

if (oMsg != "")
    {alert (oMsg);
    }


// Snippet 2...
oMsg = new String ("This is a message.");

oMsg = "";

if (oMsg != "")
    {alert (oMsg);
    }
</script>

26 posted on 08/11/2002 1:58:16 AM PDT by jennyp
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