Genome complexity: patterns from the past (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, December 06, 2015, 21:32 (3056 days ago) @ David Turell

Studying the ribosome shows tremendous increasing complexity:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151130152206.htm-"Some of the keys to unlocking the origin of life lie encrypted in the ribosome, life's oldest and most universal assembly of molecules. Today's ribosome converts genetic information (RNA) into proteins that carry out various functions in an organism. But the ribosome itself has changed over time. Its history shows how simple molecules joined forces to invent biology, and its current structure records ancient biological processes that occurred at the root of the Tree of Life, some 3.8 billion years ago.-***-"Like rings in the trunk of a tree, the ribosome contains components that functioned early on in its history. The center of the trunk records the tree's youth, and successive rings represent each year of the tree's life, with the outermost layer recording the present. Just as the core of a tree's trunk remains unchanged over time, all modern ribosomes contain a common core dating back 3.8 billion years. This common core is the same in all living organisms, including humans.-***-"'By taking ribosomes from a number of species -- humans, yeast, various bacteria and archaea -- and looking at the outer portions that are variable, we saw that there were very specific rules governing how they change," said Williams. "We took those rules and applied them to the common core, which allowed us to see all the way back to the first pieces of RNA." (my bold)-"Some clues along the way helped. For instance, though RNA is now responsible for creating proteins, the very earliest life had no proteins. By looking for regions of the ribosome that contain no proteins, the researchers could determine that those elements existed before the advent of proteins. -***-"While the ribosomal core is the same across species, what's added on top differs. Humans have the largest ribosome, encompassing some 7,000 nucleotides representing dramatic growth from the hundred or so base pairs at the beginning.-"What we're talking about is going from short oligomers, short pieces of RNA, to the biology we see today," said Williams. "The increase in size and complexity is mind-boggling." (my bold)-Comment: The rules in bold above are pattern planning. And the complexity (in bold) demands an acceptance of design.