ICR article image (above).
http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v11/n6/images/nrn2841-f4.jpg (above)
Posted on 11/12/2013 9:39:48 AM PST by fishtank
Incredible Microprocessor Protein Acts as Genome Guardian
by Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph.D. *
Researchers recently studied a highly sophisticated cellular machine that acts as a guard for the genome against harmful mutations and that evolution cannot explain.1
Humans have two sets of 23 chromosomes, and a mutational deletion in chromosome 22 causes a disease called DiGeorge syndrome in which heart and immune system defects occur, in addition to learning difficulties, mental retardation, and psychiatric disorders. The deletion eliminates a protein and stops the formation of a key piece of cellular machinery called a "microprocessor."
The microprocessor is actually a working complex of two important proteins called Drosha and DGCR8 (DiGeorge syndrome critical region 8). The mutation causing the microprocessor to be defective affects DGCR8.2 The microprocessor protein complex itself gets its name from the fact that it processes an important group of molecules called microRNAs. MicroRNAs are small molecules that help regulate gene expression.3
It turns out that the microprocessor does other important things besides processing microRNAs, like regulating transposable element activity. Just over 50 percent of the human genome contains a complex set of DNA features called transposable elements. Transposable elements and the important DNA features they encode are involved in gene regulation and genome function during development, growth, and normal cellular activity—negating their original prediction as "junk DNA."4
A small percentage of transposable elements in the human genome can be copied and moved around. This can cause problems and disrupt genes if not properly controlled. However, in its proper place, this activity has been found to play important roles in creating natural genetic variability.5 The genetic variability in the genome is why no two humans are exactly the same. In humans, little was known about how the regulation and control of transposable elements in the genome was accomplished until a research team recently studied how the microprocessor interacted with transposable elements.1
The researchers found that the microprocessor regulates transposable element activity by binding and cleaving the RNA copies (transcripts) originating from their DNA sequences across the genome. Thus, the microprocessor is an important player in keeping harmful mutations from developing in the cell by controlling transposable element activity. And it is possible that the RNA fragments produced from this process may be used in some aspect of genome regulation. Many processes in the cell produce byproducts that have important functions.
With such a multi-purpose and highly specific function, it is clear that the incredibly engineered microprocessors show powerful design features that are critical to life and good health and that cannot be explained by random evolutionary processes.
References
Heras, S. R. et al. 2013. The Microprocessor controls the activity of mammalian retrotransposons. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 20:1173-1181.
Roth, B., D. Ishimaru, and M. Hennig. 2013. The core Microprocessor component DiGeorge syndrome critical region 8 (DGCR8) is a non- specific RNA-binding protein. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 288 (37): 26785-26799.
Salmena, L. et al. 2011. A ceRNA Hypothesis: The Rosetta Stone of a Hidden RNA Language? Cell. 146 (3): 353-358.
Tomkins, J. 2013. Transposable Elements Are Key to Genome Regulation. Creation Science Updates. Posted on icr.org March 27, 2013, accessed November 7, 2013.
Bennett, E. A., et al. 2004. Natural Genetic Variation Caused by Transposable Elements in Humans. Genetics. 168 (2): 933-951.
* Dr. Tomkins is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and received his Ph.D. in genetics from Clemson University.
Article posted on November 11, 2013.
ICR article image (above).
http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v11/n6/images/nrn2841-f4.jpg (above)
Interesting. What more can a protein do?
Maybe.. terrible stuff???
How did this evolve?
It didn’t! God has a plan, and this is part of it.
It had to evolve from a rock, because that was the only thing here. I think, I guess, actually no one knows.
The dispute dispute among Christians is, did He do it in 6 days or was his plan carried out over 4 billion Earth years
I need a Phd just to read that......
It all depends.
I don’t think anyone knows just how long one of God’s days is.
Why can’t you just read comic books like the rest of us?
He exists OUTSIDE of time. So the whole argument is meaningless. Literally.
Yet another purpose for “junk DNA” I wonder?
Absolutely amazing. And to think evolutionists believe this incredibly complex machine we live in came about by accident. No wonder they say it took billions of years. I’d say that isn’t enough time.
Except that there was no death before Adam and Eve fell, so no failure to survive for 'survival of the fittest'.
Romans 5:12 - "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men"
Yep, and this massively sophisticated molecular machinery simply arose spontaneously after bombarding mud puddles with lightening for a few hundred million years and then blasted the results into smithereens with cosmic rays for a few more hundred million years.
Just like a Panasonic CF-53 laptop computer with Windows 7 Pro x64 would arise spontaneously if we filled a beaker full of the elemental powders from which it is formed, put some sea water in,and then bombarded the laptop soup in the beaker with lightening for a few hundred million years. Or maybe, we initially only get a chip to form in the beaker and the chip eventually EVOLVED all by itself into the laptop (with operating system) after being blasted by cosmic rays for a long time.
Right? Right?
He exists OUTSIDE of time. So the whole argument is meaningless. Literally.
Very interesting point. You can blow your mind on this stuff.
What did God do before he created time? Yet there is no before time. It’s just mind blowing when you start to consider it. We are truly fearfully and wonderfully made.
Another point is God can make rocks that look millions of years old and in other parts leave us evidence of a young earth. It’s hardly inconsistent when you take God out of the box we like to think he lives in.
What’s interesting is the Hebrew verbiage used regarding creation days. The Hebrew word “yom” can mean either a day or an age. But then Genesis 1 continually declares that there was evening and morning for each day (almost like He anticipated the objections :)). Billions of years can’t be fit into an evening and a morning. Whenever yom is used with evening and morning, it always means a 24-hour day. Also, in Hebrew usage, using an ordinal number (first, second, etc.) to describe a day never refers to a long age, but an actual 24-hour day. This is also done throughout the Genesis account.
Evolution is atheism’s creation myth. Given the incredible complexity of even the most “simple” life form, it’s beyond impossible for chemicals to spring to life via time and chance, atheism’s twin “gods.” Darwin can sort of be excused because he thought that “simple” cells were just blobs of protoplasm. We know better now, but still “scientists” cling to evolution. It makes far more sense to believe that an intelligence beyond intelligence created everything.
What was the analogy I read somewhere? Something like for evolution to create a single usable protein via time and chance is akin to an entire solar system full of blind men simultaneously solving the Rubik’s Cube. But people will believe what they want to believe.
Death spread to all MEN. Doesn’t say all life was immortal.
Yes, they can, if you believe and understand general relativity.
Or is Genesis a description of a current creation whereas the geology describes previous creations?
Yes, but what can we use it for?
Mayhem, I tell you. Mayhem! For the mayhem-deserving.
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