The stability of organized genomes (2)

(click to enlarge)

See also: The stability of organized genomes

See also: The amino acid transporter SLC6A15 is a regulator of hippocampal neurochemistry and behavior

Excerpt: Despite the high heritability of depression and a clear genetic contribution to the disease, the identification of genetic risk factors for depression has been very difficult. The first published candidate to reach genome-wide significance in depression was SLC6A15, a neuronal amino acid transporter. With a reported 1,42 fold increased risk of suffering from depression associated with a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in a regulatory region of SLC6A15, the polymorphism was also found to affect hippocampal morphology, integrity, and hippocampus-dependent memory.
My comment: The transport of amino acids contained in the proteins of blood cells links amino acid substitutions to their RNA-mediated fixation in different cell types via events linked to biodiversity in primates. Dobzhansky (1973) linked the hemoglobin in blood cells from a single amino acid substitution to cell type differentiation in primates.
Excerpt:

For example, the so-called alpha chains of hemoglobin have identical sequences of amino acids in man and the chimpanzee, but they differ in a single amino acid (out of 141) in the gorilla. ( p. 127)

See for examples of other organisms:
1) Squid Skin Secrets: Iridescence Explained
…there are three major type of reflectins, all of which influence one another and likewise influence the surface membrane of squid cells, influencing how they reflect light.
2) Tarantulas
Here are ten highlights of this alluring arachnid’s anatomy (click the image to enlarge):
My comment: The anatomy and the physiology of reproduction in squid can be linked via the microRNA/messenger RNA balance to cell type differentiation in all cells of all individuals in all crustaceans and all insects.
3) The phylogenetic utility and functional constraint of microRNA flanking sequences reported in the context of All in the (bigger) family
A flurry of other presentations compared different classes of molecules—respiratory proteins, microRNAs, and the heat shock proteins produced in response to stress—in insects and standard crustaceans. For example, hemocyanins, oxygen-carrying molecules once known to exist only in shrimp, lobsters, and other so-called malacostracans, are also made by some insects, including the embryos of cockroaches and grasshoppers.
4) Quantitative measurement of oxygen affinity in a single red blood cell
Hemoglobin mass can be determined using a quantitative absorption cytometry technique that was previously reported by this group. While previous studies measured the total hemoglobin by looking at a single wavelength (410 nm), the current study looks at a second wavelength (430 nm) to distinguish free hemoglobin with oxygen-bound hemoglobin. By imaging the same cell at both wavelengths, absorbance can be related to oxygen saturation in a single cell.
5) Plants Use Neurotransmitter To Signal Stress
GABA “was thought to have a purely metabolic role”, with its production being a way for plants to cope with the stress better, rather than being a signaling mechanism.
In Nature Communications, however, a team led by Gilliham has shown that GABA provides a signal instructing a protein in the membranes of plant cells to alter electrical conductivity, preventing the passage of negatively charged ions from inside the cells to outside them.
My comment: They place their unexpected finding into the context of neo-Darwinian evolutionary instead of into the context that links ecological variation to ecological adaptation via an atoms to ecosystems model.
6) Correction for McEwen, Brain on stress: How the social environment gets under the skin
The authors note that on page 17184, right column, first paragraph, line 4, “effect” should instead appear as “affect.”
7) How Early-Life Stress Could Increase Risk Of Anxiety And Depression Later In Life
Scientists continue to find more and more evidence of the significant influence of gut bacteria on mental health. Studies have linked gut bacteria imbalances to a host of health issues, including depression, anxiety, autism and Alzheimer’s disease, and research has also suggested that a healthy microbiome can contribute to a healthy brain and good mood. 
8) Depression of Serotonin Synaptic Transmission by the Dopamine Precursor L-DOPA
reported as: L-Dopa treatment depresses serotonin synaptic transmission
Imbalance between the dopamine and serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmitter systems has been implicated in the comorbidity of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and psychiatric disorders.
9) Life and the Universe: How Did It All Begin?
The Pensmore Dialogue on Science and Faith will create an opportunity to further understand the integration of science and faith, especially in regards to the creation of the universe.
My comment: Neo-Darwinian evolutionary theorists will be told, once again, to stop touting their pseudoscientific nonsense, so that intelligent people can discuss what is known about creation. Doesn’t most of the controversy about different religious beliefs represent how theorists portray creationists — no matter what theological perspectives they share or do not share.  Masatoshi Nei, for example, would rather that no one consider teleology in the context of biophysical constraints.
…genomic conservation and constraint-breaking mutation is the ultimate source of all biological innovations and the enormous amount of biodiversity in this world. In this view of evolution there is no need of considering teleological elements” (p. 199).
If teleology (e.g., biologically-based cause and effect) is not considered, no one needs to consider selective pressures in the context of Darwin’s “conditions of life”.  Instead, evolution can be considered only in the context of constraint breaking mutations.

Isn’t it time we stopped talking about selective pressures?

3:49 I mean, it’s a terrible thing to happen. You’ve got this beautiful paradigm. You’ve believed it through generations. Nobody has questioned it. You’ve been constructing fanciful things on top of it, relying on it to be as solid as a rock. And now it’s whipped away from under you. What do you do? What does a scientist do in that case?

4:10 Well, we know the answer because Thomas S. Kuhn wrote a seminal treatise about this back in 1962. He said what scientists do when a paradigm fails is, guess what — they carry on as if nothing had happened. (Laughter) If they haven’t got a paradigm they can’t ask the question. So they say, “Yes it’s wrong, but supposing it was right …” (Laughter) And the only other option open to them is to stop asking the questions. So that is what they have done now. That’s why you don’t hear them talking about it. It’s yesterday’s question.

4:55 Some of them have even elevated it into a principle. It’s what we ought to be doing. Aaron Filler from Harvard said, “Isn’t it time we stopped talking about selective pressures? I mean, why don’t we talk about, well, there’s chromosomes, and there’s genes. And we just record what we see.” Charles Darwin must be spinning in his grave! He knew all about that kind of science. And he called it hypothesis-free science. And he despised it from the bottom of his heart. And if you’re going to say, “I’m going to stop talking about selective pressures,” you can take “The Origin of Species” and throw it out of the window, for it’s about nothing else but selective pressures.

Summary: If you can convince people to keep looking the other way each time another fatal flaw in neo-Darwinian theory is revealed, you can keep teaching the same pseudoscientific nonsense to another generation of students.

See also: The stability of organized genomes (3)
 

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