http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== COSMIC ANCESTRY | Quick Guide | Next | by Brig Klyce | All Rights Reserved October 25, 1996: Metazoan Genes Older Than Metazoa? What'sNEW <#whatsnew> /Seven independent data sets suggest that invertebrates diverged from chordates about a billion years ago, about twice as long ago as the Cambrian./ ? Gregory A. Wray /et al./ (1) <# 1ref> Graph Three scientists have analyzed the rates of divergence for seven metazoan genes with interesting results. Although the data are rather loose, all seem to indicate that these genes began to diverge from their respective common ancestor genes much longer ago than the Cambrian explosion. The three scientists conclude, "...the only reasonable interpretation is that the metazoan phyla began to diverge long before the Cambrian." This conclusion directly challenges the consensus of paleontology that dates the Cambrian explosion at 570 ? or maybe only 530 ? million years ago. But when the data are interpreted within the neo-Darwinian paradigm, this conclusion is not unreasonable. The data look different from the perspective of Cosmic Ancestry. According to this paradigm, the genes for evolutionary advances were delivered to Earth in the same manner as life on Earth originally. Life originally came as bacterial spores delivered by comets. Genes for further evolution could come within bactertial spores or within naked viruses carried by comets. Such genes would reside within lower life forms as silent DNA until all the pieces were in place for the next evolutionary step. The pieces would include: * evolutionary developments (mouths before teeth), * genetic developments (all the genes necessary for lungs before lungs), and * environmental developments (an oxygen atmosphere before oxygen metabolism). The data also look different to another group of geneticists who, in a more recent article, dispute the conclusion of Wray /et al./ The January, 1998, report says, "A published analysis of seven gene loci that concludes that the corresponding divergence times are 1,200 and 1,00 million years ago is shown to be flawed because it extrapolates from slow-evolving vertebrates to faster-evolving invertebrates, as well as in other ways" (2) <# 2ref>. Both groups of researchers use a number of methods to "normalize" their data. One wonders if such "molecular clocks" are too temperamental for everyday use, at this stage. However the dispute turns out, Cosmic Ancestry requires that genes precede the phenotypic expression of themselves, whereas neo-Darwinism requires the immediate expression of genes. So, if life evolves according to Cosmic Ancestry, we would not be surprised to find that genes are older than the resulting phenotypes. For additional evidence that genes for higher evolutionary developments reside as silent DNA in lower life forms, consider that five genes for histones are found in /Methanococcus jannaschii/ (3) <# 3ref>, an archaebacterium. Archaebacteria are not known to use histones, but all eukaryotic cells do (4) <# 4ref>. What'sNEW Preserved in crystal , by Elizabeth McCrocklin, EurekAlert!, 2 Feb 2006. "Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science recently discovered a new source of well-preserved ancient DNA in fossil bones." 8 Dec 2005 : Simple sea anemones and coral have many genes thought to be exclusive to higher animals and some plants. 25 Nov 2005 : A small marine worm has complex genes like humans'. 16 Sep 2005 : /...All the genes for building those complex animals existed long before [the Cambrian] explosion/ ? Lewis Wolpert David Penny, "Relativity for molecular clocks," p 183-184 v 436, /Nature/, 14 Jul 2005. Kevin J. Peterson and Nicholas J. Butterfield, "Origin of the Eumetazoa: Testing ecological predictions of molecular clocks against the Proterozoic fossil record" [abstract ], doi:10.1073/pnas.0503660102, p 9547-9552 v 102, /Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA/, 5 Jul (online 27 Jun) 2005. Jaime E. Blair and S. Blair Hedges, "Molecular Clocks Do Not Support the Cambrian Explosion" [abstract ], doi:10.1093/molbev/msi039, p 387-390 v 22, /Molecular Biology and Evolution/, Mar 2005 (online 10 Nov 2004). "Molecular clocks continue to support a long period of animal evolution before the Cambrian explosion of fossils." 3 Feb 2005 : Complex early genes. Arne Kusserow et al., "Unexpected complexity of the /Wnt/ gene family in a sea anemone" [abstract ], doi:10.1038/nature03158, p 156-160 v 433, /Nature/, 13 Jan 2005. "Thus at least eleven of twelve /Wnt/ gene subfamilies must have already been present before the divergence of bilaterians and cnidarians." Emmanuel J. P. Douzery et al., "The timing of eukaryotic evolution: Does a relaxed molecular clock reconcile proteins and fossils?" [abstract ], 10.1073/pnas.0403984101, /Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA/, online 19 Oct 2004. "These relaxed clock time estimates are much more recent than those obtained under the assumption of a global molecular clock, yet bilaterian diversification appears to be 100 million years more ancient than the Cambrian boundary." 2004, Aug 16 : "Study Finds Anti-HIV Protein Evolved Millions Of Years Before The Emergence Of AIDS," a Reply from Jerry Chancellor. S. Blair Hedges and Sudhir Kumar, "Precision of molecular time estimates" [abstract ], p 242-247 v 20 n 5, /Trends in Genetics/, May 2004. "Molecular clocks have great potential but must be calibrated carefully." Kevin J. Peterson et al., "Estimating metazoan divergence times with a molecular clock" [abstract ], p 6536-6541 v 101, /Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA/, 27 April 2004. "...We estimate that the last common ancestor of bilaterians arose somewhere between 573 and 656 Ma...." Dan Graur and William Martin, "Reading the entrails of chickens: molecular timescales of evolution and the illusion of precision" [abstract ], p 80-86 v 20 n 2, /Trends in Genetics/, Feb 2004. Worms in the Mist , by Leslie Mullen, Astrobiology Magazine, 12 Nov 2003. "The wriggling tracks of worm-like creatures can be found in ...rocks that formed long before multi-cellular mobile animals were supposed to have existed." Study Suggests Macroscopic Bilaterian Animals Did Not Appear Until 555 Million Years Ago , University of California, Riverside, 26 Sep 2002. 2002 , July 14: Mouse vs Human Francisco Rodrėguez-Trelles, Rosa Tarrėo, and Francisco J. Ayala, "A methodological bias toward overestimation of molecular evolutionary time scales" [abstract ], p 8112-8115 v 99 n 12, /Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA/, 11 June 2002. "...Molecular time estimates ...[are] constrained by a nonelastic boundary at the lower end, but not at the higher end of the distribution." Sudhir Kumar and Sankar Subramanian, "Mutation rates in mammalian genomes" p 803-808 v 99 n 2 /Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA/, 22 Jan 2002. "We find that mutation rate is approximately constant per year and largely similar among genes.... Our results suggest that the average mammalian genome mutation rate is 2.2 × 10^9 per base pair per year." 2001 , August 12: Fungi much older than their oldest fossils? Mark Pagel, "Inferring the historical patterns of biological evolution" p 877-884 v 401 /Nature/, 28 October 1999. A Review Article that considers the issue of estimating the ages of genes at length. Richard A. Kerr, "Earliest Animals Growing Younger?" p 412 v 284 /Science/, 16 April 1999. "New radiometric dates nudge the pendulum back to about 620 million years for the fossil tracks." Mike Foote and J. John Sepkoski Jr., "Absolute measures of the completeness of the fossil record" p 415-417 v 398 /Nature/, 1 April 1999. "We find that completeness is rather high for many animal groups." Eugene E. Harris and Jody Hey, "X chromosome evidence for ancient human histories" [abstract ], p 3320-3324 v 96 n 6 /Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA/, 16 March 1999. Also see commentary by Nicholas Wade, "Study Alters Time Line for the Splitting of Human Populations," /The New York Times/, 16 March, 1999. Molecular dating of a human gene indicates populations subdivided 200 thousand years ago, significantly earlier than the oldest human fossils. Thus, the problem persists at a much shorter timescale. Evelyn Strauss, "Can Mitichondrial Clocks Keep Time?" p 1435-1438 v 283 /Science/, 5 March 1999: New data fuel fundamental challenges to the accuracy of molecular clocks, although researchers say they are tackling the problem. 1999 , March 1: The problem is not missing fossils. 1999 , January 20: Molecular clocks indicate species are more than three times as old as their oldest fossils. 1998 , October 28: Another analysis ...finds genes to be much older than the fossil record would indicate. 1998 , April 30: Another molecular analysis dates genes as older than the corresponding fossils. References 1. <# 1txt> Gregory A. Wray, Jeffrey S. Levinton and Leo H. Shapiro. "Molecular Evidence for Deep Precambrian Divergences Among Metazoan Phyla" p 568-573 v 274, /Science/, 25 October 1996. 2. <# 2txt> Francisco José Ayala, Andrey Rzhetsky and Francisco J. Ayala. "Origin of the metazoan phyla: Molecular clocks confirm paleontological estimates" [abstract ], p 606-611 v 95 n 2, /Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA/, 20 January 1998. 3. <# 3txt> Carol J. Bult /et al./ (39 others), "Complete Genome Sequence of the Methanogenic Archaeon, /Methanococcus jannaschii/" p 1058-1073 v 273, /Science/, 23 August 1996. 4. <# 4txt> This evidence is discussed more fully in "Eukaryotic Genes in Bacteria?" on the Cosmic Ancestry webpage Can The Theory Be Tested? COSMIC ANCESTRY | Quick Guide | Next | by Brig Klyce | All Rights Reserved