Two Arctic Fish Are Breaking the Rules of Genetics
Laurie Graham, a molecular biologist at Queen’s University, in Ontario, and the lead author on the paper, knows she’s making a bold claim in arguing for the direct transfer of a gene from one fish to another. That kind of horizontal DNA movement once wasn’t imagined to happen in any animals, let alone vertebrates. Still, the more she and her colleagues study the smelt, the clearer the evidence becomes.
Nor are the smelt unique. Recent studies of a range of animals—other fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals—point to a similar conclusion: The lateral inheritance of DNA, once thought to be exclusive to microbes, occurs on branches throughout the tree of life.
Sarah Schaack, an evolutionary genomicist at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon, believes these cases of horizontal transfer still have “a pretty big wow factor” even among scientists, “because the conventional wisdom for so long was that it was less likely or impossible in eukaryotes.” But the smelt discovery and other recent examples all point to horizontal transfers playing an influential role in evolution.
Why not. Viruses invade multi species and with them genetic material.
No mechanism = pure speculation. Not to mention that the whole “2 isolated groups that diverged 250 million years ago have it, but other close relations to said groups don’t” isn’t exactly an air-tight case. I’d say its more an attempt at “making a big splash” like the Oumuamua object being a light sail bs was.
They presented data. Others can look at the data, verify it, and come up with and investigate their own theories.
As of now, it’s a hypothesis, not even a theory, and will remain so unless they can find a mechanism for the hypothesized genetic transfer. I won’t hold my breath.
We know it can be done. Gene therapy, mRNA vaccines and probably others.
Artificial, but practical examples of gene splicing.
If we can do it, nature almost certainly can.
Survival is one hell of a bitch.
Imagine as water is lost on our planet and overpopulation forces species to adapt to land…
Quite an evolution we have.
I know where Queens is and have family that have worked there. Carry on.
So do I.
I went to St. Lawrence College there as well.
So many prisons there as well.
Did a 6 month contract as a guard in the institutional services section.
One of the many government experiments of hiring part-time while needing a full-time position filled.
And you couldn’t be rehired for two years in that prison.
“The herring gene made its way into the smelt genome outside the normal sexual channels.”
Outside “normal sexual channels”, eh? So, are we talking about something like immaculate conception here? Or something even more rare and weird … like Maggie’s channels to conceive and birth Joothtin?
Only Castro and Maggie would know for certain.
We can’t rule out the admittedly outlandish scientific possibility that Maggie enjoyed the comforts of more than one man, in one wonderfully pot-smoke-infused night in Caribbean paradise. The comingling of a triplex set of DNA haploid strands could have formed a rare embryo that would grow to become one of the greatest politically embarrassing and economically disastrous individuals ever to affect North American prosperity and liberty. Oh, gotta go. There’s another tax bill.
But, but, but … what does the WHO have to say about it? They’re the unquestioned EXPERTS in “science” … Right?
Ms. Graham will be playing Deer Hunter if she ever delves into how it is that the genetic changes in bats and dolphins evolved identically with respect to echo location.
I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact that life’s a mystery and always will be.
How quickly they shut down the research that showed that a woman’s brain accumulates the DNA of every male she has ever had sex with.
I still choke on my coffee when I recall the reactions of the FemLibbers to that research.
WTF you mean all those bastard’s I banged in college are now swimming in my head.
Seems the dna can cross the brain barrier. And gods laughed and laughed and laughed. Ha Ha Ha
Fascinating. Pure research is great, but now we know it’s also being used for impure purposes by the uncivilized. Very sad.