Feng Zhang refutes theistic evolution

By: James V. Kohl | Published on: April 20, 2017

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Nucleic acid detection with CRISPR-Cas13a/C2c2
My summary: Their ability to detect single base differences links differences in the energy of photons to the light-induced de novo creation of RNA and to RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions that differentiate all cell types in all individuals of all living genera. Any claims about mutations and evolution have already been replaced by what serious scientists have learned about natural selection for energy-dependent codon optimality and the pheromone-controlled physiology of reproduction, which biophysically constrains all biodiversity in the context of chromosomal inheritance. If Feng Zhang or anyone else tries to put nucleic acid detection back into the context of neo-Darwinian evolution, they will be asked “Where did the energy in a hydrogen atom come from?” Young earth creationists would then eat the theorists for lunch, if the theorists did not always leave such a bad taste in the mouths of serious scientists.
Reported as: A new transformative CRISPR test targets RNA (rather than DNA) as a rapid, inexpensive, highly sensitive diagnostic tool

In a study published today in Science, Broad institute members Feng Zhang, Jim Collins, Deb Hung, Aviv Regev, and Pardis Sabeti describe how this RNA-targeting CRISPR enzyme was harnessed as a highly sensitive detector – able to indicate the presence of as little as a single molecule of a target RNA or DNA molecule. Co-first authors Omar Abudayyeh and Jonathan Gootenberg, graduate students at MIT and Harvard, respectively, dubbed the new tool SHERLOCK (Specific High-sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter unLOCKing); this technology could one day be used to respond to viral and bacterial outbreaks, monitor antibiotic resistance, and detect cancer.

The scientists demonstrate the method’s versatility on a range of applications, including:

Detecting the presence of Zika virus in patient blood or urine samples within hours;
Distinguishing between the genetic sequences of African and American strains of Zika virus;
Discriminating specific types of bacteria, such as E. coli;
Detecting antibiotic resistance genes;
Identifying cancerous mutations in simulated cell-free DNA fragments; and
Rapidly reading human genetic information, such as risk of heart disease, from a saliva sample.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data support the hypothesis that exosomal transfer of miR-181b from CDCs into MΦ reduces PKC δ transcript levels and underlies the cardioprotective effects of CDCs administered after reperfusion.

Exosomal transfer is nutrient energy-dependent. See also: Nutrition, microRNAs, and Human Health

miRs derived from diet and endogenous synthesis have been implicated in physiologic and pathologic conditions, including those linked with nutrition and metabolism.

It is generally assumed that genetic information passes faithfully from DNA to RNA to proteins. Proteome complexity, however, depends on a diverse set of post-transcriptional processes that modify and enrich genetic information beyond the genomic blueprint. RNA editing is one such process.

The trade-off is nutrient energy-dependent and controlled by the physiology of reproduction. Pheromones biophysically constrain the nutrient energy-dependent RNA-mediated editing of organized genomes. RNA editing is the only process that links the nutrient energy-dependent pheromone-controlled physiology of reproduction from the innate immune system of bacteria to all biophysically constrained biodiversity via CRISPR, which links the energy from protein folding chemistry to amino acid substitutions in supercoiled DNA. The supercoiled DNA protects all organized genomes from virus-driven energy theft, which links the degradation of messenger RNA from mutations to all pathology.
Attempts to obfuscate that fact, may help to clarify it. Any time anyone makes a statement link “It is generally assumed…” you can be reasonably sure that they are about to refute the assumptions of biologically uninformed theorists. In this case, starting from the detection of nucleic acids clearly starts with the energy-dependent creation of the nucleic acid, not with mutations. Links from RNA instead of DNA to cell type differences links the energy of creation to the physiology of reproduction via RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions.
See also: Systematic characterization of A-to-I RNA editing hotspots in microRNAs across human cancers

RNA editing, a widespread posttranscriptional mechanism, has emerged as a new player in cancer biology.

That’s a foolish statement. Facts about RNA editing did not emerge. The experimentally established facts linked the control of posttranscriptional mechanisms to nearly 60,000 articles that detail how energy-dependent changes in microRNAs effect cell type differentiation and healthy longevity. The same articles help to clearly link virus-driven energy theft from the degradation of messenger RNA to mutations and all pathology.
See also: Nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled ecological adaptations: from atoms to ecosystems
This atoms to ecosystems model of ecological adaptations links nutrient-dependent epigenetic effects on base pairs and amino acid substitutions to pheromone-controlled changes in the microRNA / messenger RNA balance and chromosomal rearrangements. The nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled changes are required for the thermodynamic regulation of intracellular signaling, which enables biophysically constrained nutrient-dependent protein folding; experience-dependent receptor-mediated behaviors, and organism-level thermoregulation in ever-changing ecological niches and social niches. Nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled ecological, social, neurogenic and socio-cognitive niche construction are manifested in increasing organismal complexity in species from microbes to man. Species diversity is a biologically-based nutrient-dependent morphological fact and species-specific pheromones control the physiology of reproduction. The reciprocal relationships of species-typical nutrient-dependent morphological and behavioral diversity are enabled by pheromone-controlled reproduction. Ecological variations and biophysically constrained natural selection of nutrients cause the behaviors that enable ecological adaptations. Species diversity is ecologically validated proof-of-concept. Ideas from population genetics, which exclude ecological factors, are integrated with an experimental evidence-based approach that establishes what is currently known. This is known: Olfactory/pheromonal input links food odors and social odors from the epigenetic landscape to the physical landscape of DNA in the organized genomes of species from microbes to man during their development.