We have to get used to the fact that chemists are now working normally with unnatural nucleotides that are mutated and evolved (their words). They have created enzymes that can make long enough polymers with all six XNA types that do encode genetic information, and they have also engineered reverse transcriptases. These enzymes can accurately replicate genetic information from DNA to XNA and back, but with enough copying mistakes for functions to evolve.
Evolution has entered a phase where it is irrelevant. No somo nada. (the motto of this blog). How true!
8 comments:
Evolution is not irrelevant. It continues apace, although our contributions to the environment we inhabit may influence its course.
The function of most genes, role of interaction between multiple genes and regulatory molecules, etc. is not yet understood completely. Current ability to achieve fine manipulation of DNA/RNA in higher order eukaryotes is rudimentary. Your conclusions aren't serious.
Epigenetics is the next step.
No, Anonymous, I am serious. In plant improvement, not long ago, we selected lines and cross-bred and hybridized, etc. in the experimental fields. Nowadays it is all genetic engineering, it is done all in the lab. No more pollen collection nor pollinization. In animal husbandry, genetic engineering is less developed and in humans is just starting (in underground experiments or under the cover of curing genetic diseases). Just to show you this thing is now and real, my biotech shares jumped today 14% on TASE. I'm not kidding, serious money believes in it.
I think natural evolution will continue apace with microbes, but for large animals and plants we will increasingly direct its course.
Once it becomes possible to upgrade defective or disadvantaged people, the Left who have for years denied the reality of human biological diversity will be the first to demand low IQ populations be "corrected".
Alternatively, the Left will demand that high IQ populations be corrected down, in the interests of "fairness".
30 points off your IQ, J, you will finally be able to enjoy talking about football.
Cheer up.
Anon.
It's clear that no one commenting is a biologist. Influencing the course of evolution does not mean that evolution is irrelevant or that it has stopped for humans. I've worked in labs during my studies, and my point stands. The current state of science is still teasing out the function of individual genes and studying the impact of protein conformation (requires challenging mathematical modeling). Understanding of how multiple proteins interact in vivo, how genes interact with regulatory nucleic acids and proteins, epigenetic factors is all in its early stages although already quite complex. Ability to manipulate at the individual gene level in higher-order adult eukaryotes is very limited. The creation of xeno-nucleic acid molecules does not really change any of this.
You are right, but we are well on the way.
The demand for this kind of stuff will be insatiable.
Anon.
Anon.,
I would wager that we are farther than you think from true genetic engineering of embryos and even farther from genetic engineering of living adults.
Pre-implantation embryo selection can be performed now, but the problem is that knowledge of what to select for is very limited. You can get some of the way towards choosing hair, eye and skin color traits. But this is limited to the amount of variation that the parents have at those loci. There is also a recent report that IVF may be associated with a higher rate of congenital anomalies than natural fertilization. IVF for infertile couples is not exactly the same as pre-implantation embryo selection (some medications used, etc.), but we don't yet know that manipulation of the embryos itself is not responsible. Of course, the association may not bear out in further research.
Manipulating a single gene or suite of selected genes in a living organism without causing any other damage is not trivial. It isn't trivial to cause the change in all the cells of the organism. It would be easiest with an embryo and very difficult with a living adult. Nothing that is even close to ready for prime-time exists yet. Moreoever, both epigenetics and environment play a significant role in phenotypic outcome. Environment will never be controlled at the level of the lab.
Take caution before buying into all of the media hype about genetic engineering beyond the level of pre-implantation embryo selection. It may be achieved one day, but it's probably at least a few decades away if not farther.
A few decades, I agree,and then only in a small way, but we're definitely on the way.
There will of course be mis-steps and disasters, but there is ample opportunity to get it right with animal models, and enormous need to address certain otherwise hopeless medical conditions which will be the driver (and also the fig leaf for more sinister agendas).
I suspect we are asymptotically approaching max-out on what conventional medicine can achieve, and we will do what we have always done,which is to push out into the unknown and fight our way up the learning curve.
And not everyone will be constrained ethically, either.
Anon.
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