Posted on 07/11/2012 1:21:48 PM PDT by Red Badger
New Lab Student: "My my. These guys are complete pigs. I'll show 'em, I'll get all these dishes spotless. Bet I get an "A".
In 2008, Kaçar's postdoctoral advisor, Associate Professor of Biology Eric Gaucher, successfully determined the ancient genetic sequence of Elongation Factor-Tu (EF-Tu), an essential protein in E. coli. EFs are one of the most abundant proteins in bacteria, found in all known cellular life and required for bacteria to survive. That vital role made it a perfect protein for the scientists to answer questions about evolution.
Helpful Hint.
When you post a picture, control the size by prefixing your ‘img src’ command with ‘img height=xxx’. 300 is a good size.
i.e. <img height=300 img src=....
Go Go Godzilla!
This is self-adverting and self-promotion by the scientists involved and the GIT institute. Whatever new process name they call it, this is not new.
The only exciting news is that the old gene coded protein is still recognizable, and performed with relatively similar function.
Consider the life span of an E. coli generation, in a lab optimal condition, they replicate in about 20 min, the mutation rate is much accerlerated and accumulated over the 500 million year span.
I had Industrial disease, but I cured it with T-Rex E. Coli.
Cue "Don't Fear The Reaper"
What could possibly go wrong?
why would you grow something in poop?
Ask a farmer. ;)
Yeah, it are !
I’m seeing in teh mid’s eye, a petri dish.
The dish sprouts a pseudopod which grabs a pen, then it shoves the pen into the ‘ear’ of the newly sprouted ‘pseudohead’ as it begins quoting Shakespear.
Fertilizer.................
Dr. Ian Malcolm: I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power you’re using here: it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you, you’ve patented it, and packaged it, you’ve slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now
[pounds table with fists]
Dr. Ian Malcolm: you’re selling it.
[pounds table again]
Dr. Ian Malcolm: You want to sell it, well...
John Hammond: I don’t think you’re giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody’s ever done before...
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.
Considering it was Georgia Tech, it probably was a, “Hold muh flask and watch this!” moment...............
...as she rinses the stuff down the drain into the sewer lines................where it grows and mutates in this sudden new and rich environment, with no natural enemies to hamper its progress........and suddenly, people start disappearing in their own bathrooms while on the potty............the FBI is called in to investigate, but by that time entire towns start to de-populate...........small Georgia cities suddenly devoid of people....................
It’s time to go Scientologist on Mars and send bacteria life there to get started. By slowly creating Mars conditions in the lab we could evolve something that could thrive. Possibly Mars did just that to Earth before their SUV emissions destroyed all Martian life.
500 million year old gene...a little misleading. The gene was produced recently. It’s a best guess, based on today’s sequences, at what the sequence was 500 million years ago.
“altered lineages actually became healthier than their modern counterpart”
Oh goody. Who is funding this?
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