Sunlight, hydrophobicity and biodiversity (3)

A group of newly discovered microbes, named after Norse gods, may belong to the lineage from which we evolved.

The idea that humans automagically evolved from microbes is a consistent theme among biologically uniformed science idiots. Ed Yong is no exception.
But see also: Simulating the Origins of Life 3/21/16 by Emily Singer and Quanta

Over the past few years, Deamer has expanded his membrane-first approach into a comprehensive vision for how life emerged. According to his model, proto-cells on the early Earth were made up of different components. Some of these components could help the proto-cell, perhaps by stabilizing its protective membranes or giving it access to an energy supply. At some point, one or more RNAs developed the ability to replicate, and life as we know it began to stir.

This pseudosceintific nonsense can now be examined in the context of An emerging view of RNA transcription and splicing 8/12/19

“It is well-documented that phosphorylation acts as a signal to help regulate the activity of RNA polymerase II,” says Guo, a postdoc in Young’s lab. “Now, we’ve shown that it also acts as a switch to alter the protein’s preference for different condensates.”

According to Young, this new outlook on gene control has emerged in part through a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together perspectives from biology and physics to learn how properties of matter predict some of the molecular behaviors he and his team have observed experimentally.

That is a misrepresentation of what is known to all serious scientists. See for instance, Dependence of RNA synthesis in isolated thymus nuclei on glycolysis, oxidative carbohydrate catabolism and a type of “oxidative phosphorylation” 9/11/64

The synthesis of RNA in isolated thymus nuclei is ATP dependent.

If the ATP-dependent synthesis of RNA depends on what is known to serious scientists about oxidative phosphorylation, it should have become important to learn how the degradation of messenger RNA occurs long before this report on RNA decay was published.
See: UPFront and center in RNA decay: UPF1 in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and beyond 1/17/19

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), which is arguably the best-characterized translation-dependent regulatory pathway in mammals, selectively degrades mRNAs as a means of post-transcriptional gene control. Control can be for the purpose of ensuring the quality of gene expression. Alternatively, control can facilitate the adaptation of cells to changes in their environment. Key to NMD, no matter what its purpose, is the ATP-dependent RNA helicase upstream frameshift 1 (UPF1), without which NMD fails to occur. However, UPF1 does much more than regulate NMD. As examples, UPF1 is engaged in functionally diverse mRNA decay pathways mediated by a variety of RNA-binding proteins that include staufen, stem-loop-binding protein, glucocorticoid receptor, and regnase 1. Moreover, UPF1 promotes tudor-staphylococcal/micrococcal-like nuclease-mediated microRNA decay. In this review, we first focus on how the NMD machinery recognizes an NMD target and triggers mRNA degradation. Next, we compare and contrast the mechanisms by which UPF1 functions in the decay of other mRNAs and also in microRNA decay. UPF1, as a protein polymath, engenders cells with the ability to shape their transcriptome in response to diverse biological and physiological needs.

The claim about a protein polymath links the claims of Bruce McEwen et al., (1964) to the claims of all other polymaths who are appalled by the painful legacy left to humanity by biologically uninformed science idiots.
See: A painful legacy 7/19/19 (subscription required)