Mutations

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Mutations
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To the teacher or user.Most Textbooks discuss
mutations in the text before they take up
evolution. If this is how your textbook handles
these subjects then you will start on the next
slide. It is essential that the student
understand the concept of meaningful information
content in the DNA. If you have already
covered evolution in this addendum then start on
slide number 9.
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You Will Discover In the Unit On Evolution That
Textbooks Define Biological Evolution
asCHANGE.
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A Change In What?The Change Must Be In the DNA
Since The DNA Contains the Complete Instructions
On How To Make A Duplicate Organism.
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If the DNA Contains Instructions Then It Must
Contain Information. If You Are To Understand
Mutations and Evolution Then It Is Essential That
You Understand the Concept And Importance Of DNA
Information Content.
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Think CriticallyConsider These Letter
Groups1. The Sky Is Blue.2. The Sky Is Deep
Blue.3. The Sky Is Blue pndwrzeq.4. The Sky Is
pndwrzeq.5. The Sky Is Blue. The Sky Is Blue.
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Which Letter Group Has the LEAST
Information In It?
Did You Pick Number 1? Why Not? It Has the
Least Number Of Letters.
If You Picked Number 4 Why Did You Select It
Over Number 2? They Both Have The Same Number
Of Letters?
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Which Letter Grouping Has the MOST Information
In It?
Number 5 Has the Most Letters. Did You Pick It?
Why Not?
Do Numbers 1, 3 and 5 All Have the Same
Information?
What Is the Correct Answer?
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ConclusionAdding Letters And/or Words Does Not
Increase Information Content Unless It Is
Meaningful.
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In Dealing With DNA You Learned That Three Base
Pairs Coded For An Amino Acid and That There are
20 Biological Amino Acids In Living Organisms.
These 20 Amino Acids May Be Considered As Letters
Similar To Those In Our Alphabet Since They Spell
Out the Precise Structure Of Proteins, Genes and
Other Functions.
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The DNA Uses 20 Letters (Amino Acids) To Encode
Its Information Whereas We Use 26 Letters To
Perform the Same Task. On This Basis,
Information Content Problems Are the Same In Both
Languages.
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A Mutation Is Any Change In the DNA Sequence.
It Is Generally Agreed That Mutations Must Be The
Source Of Genetic Information And That Mutations
Are Random Chance Occurrences.
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The process of mutations is the only known
source of the raw materials of genetic
variability, and hence of evolution...
Theodosius Dobzhansky, On Methods of
Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology. American
Scientist, December 1957, p. 385.
Evolutionist Theodosius Dobzhansky said,
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Evolutionist Ernst Mayer said, Ultimately, all
variation is, of course, due to mutation.Ernst
Mayer, Evolutionary Challenges to the
Mathematical Interpretation of Evolution.
Proceedings of a Symposium on Mathematical
Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of
Evolution, Wistar Institute of Anatomy and
Biology, 25-26 April, 1966, p. 50.
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If a Mutation Is To Cause Macro-Evolution What
Characteristic Must It Have?
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New Meaningful Information Must Be Added To the
Existing DNA.
The Question is, Can Meaningful Information Come
About By Purely Random Chance Happenings?
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Answer the Following QuestionDid the change
from the First Chapter of your textbook to an
encyclopedia require additional coherent
information or is the encyclopedia simply a
random chance rearrangement of the information
required to make the first chapter of your
textbook?
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Doesnt Macro-Evolution Demand That a Mutation
INCREASE the MEANINGFUL INFORMATION contained
in the DNA? A Decrease May Cause
Micro-Evolution.
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Think Critically It has been discovered that
the LARGEST BACTERIA Epulopiscium fishelsoni has
85,000 copies of one of its genes and contains
approximately 25 times as much DNA as a human
cell. Does this confirm the need for added DNA
to be meaningful? Randerson, J., Record Breaker.
New Scientist, Vol. 174, 8 June 2002, p. 14
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The Information Content Of The DNA Of The
Mollicute or H-39 Mycoplasma (One Of the Smallest
Bacteria) Is Contained in 768,000 base pairs.
This Equals the Number of Letters On
Approximately 200 Pages of Your Textbook Smith,
Cell Biology,. Academic Press (1971), p. 86.
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Mans DNA Contains3.2 billion base pairs This
Equals the Number of Letters in Approximately 585
Textbooks Like Yours.This is more than 4100
times greater than that of the mollicute. Starr
and Taggart, Biology, The Unity and Diversity of
Life. Wadsworth Group, 2004, p. 254.
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Question Where did the additional information
come from by random chance happenings to fill
more than 584 additional books?
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Think Critically Which of the following types
of mutations add meaningful information to the
DNA? Remember that mutations happen only in a
completely random manner.Point and Frameshift
MutationsTransposonsDuplication ErrorsJumping
GenesChromosomal MutationsExtra
ChromosomesViral and Bacterial Invasion
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ConclusionMutations Do Not Add Meaningful
Information To The DNA. Mutations Therefore
CANNOT Be A Factor in Macro-Evolution But Can
Possibly Cause Micro-Evolution
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If Mutations CANNOT Cause Macro-Evolution Then
What Does? Examine the Rest of the Arguments
Presented By the Textbook For the Answer.
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