Jumping genes; an essay shows importance (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, March 20, 2016, 18:10 (3148 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: They are all over the place at all levels of complexity in organisms from single cells upwards:-https://aeon.co/essays/genes-that-jump-species-does-this-shake-the-tree-of-life?utm_sou... -David's comment: This is one guidance mechanism by which God could have directed evolution. The perfect dabble! I've skipped the examples of the studies. Fascinating.-Thank you for this extremely stimulating article, and for taking so much trouble to edit it for us. Fascinating indeed. I did skim through it for myself, and found just one additional passage I would like to quote in view of your comment:-QUOTE: “Scientists such as Ford Doolittle and Carl Woese at the University of Illinois have argued that this portrayal is an oversimplification. Rather than rising from a single trunk, they say, the tree of life stands on an interweaving root system. Rather than evolving from one ‘last universal ancestor', all life arose from a communal pool of primitive cells with unbridled zeal for exchanging DNA. For relatively simple cells with only a handful of genes each, swapping DNA was an excellent strategy for acquiring and preserving the best adaptations around.”-Darwin did actually talk of the Creator breathing life “into a few forms or one” and the idea that evolution proceeded through cells exchanging DNA is immensely attractive. It was the Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock who pioneered the concept of the jumping gene. She also championed the concept of cellular intelligence, which as you probably know by now is my proposal for an alternative to your God preprogramming and dabbling.