Here is some nice Intelligent Design language ("Quality Control"!) in a
recent SCIENCE.
I wonder if the thought ever flickers across Darwinist minds that the `blind
watchmaker' is getting more intelligent and less blind every day?
This reminds me of what Tom Bethell wrote:
"Life on Earth, initially thought to constitute a sort of prima facie case for a
creator, was, as a result of Darwin's idea, envisioned merely as being the
outcome of a process and a process that was, according to Dobzhansky,
"blind, mechanical, automatic, impersonal," and, according to de Beer, was
"wasteful, blind, and blundering." But as soon as these criticisms were
leveled at natural selection, the "blind process" itself was compared to a
poet, a composer, a sculptor, Shakespeare-to the very notion of creativity
that the idea of natural selection had originally replaced. It is clear, I think,
that there was something very, very wrong with such an idea." (Bethell T.,
"Darwin's Mistake", in "The Electric Windmill: An Inadvertent
Autobiography", Regnery Gateway: Washington DC, 1988, p191).
Steve
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SCIENCE
Dec 3 1999
Volume 286
Number 5446
"Frontiers in Cell Biology: Quality Control"
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol286/issue5446/
Special Issue
Frontiers in Cell Biology: Quality Control
Science Dec 3 1999: 1881.
[Full Text]
http://intl.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/286/5446/1881
Cells are the basic building blocks of living organisms, and the cell can be
pictured as a very complicated factory of life. In order to maintain an
effective internal regime and to prevent inappropriate attack by external
factors, the cell needs quality control mechanisms to identify, correct, and
prevent mistakes in its ongoing processes. The consequences of faulty
quality control range from the cell death of neurodegeneration to the
uncontrolled cell growth that is cancer. In the special section in this issue,
four Reviews describe four key processes in the cell and examine what is
known about their quality control mechanisms. ...
Reviews
Setting the Standards: Quality Control in the Secretory Pathway
Lars Ellgaard, Maurizio Molinari, and Ari Helenius
Science Dec 3 1999: 1882-1888. [Abstract] [...]
http://intl.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/286/5446/1882
A variety of quality control mechanisms operate in the endoplasmic
reticulum and in downstream compartments of the secretory pathway to
ensure the fidelity and regulation of protein expression during cell life and
differentiation. As a rule, only proteins that pass a stringent selection
process are transported to their target organelles and compartments. If
proper maturation fails, the aberrant products are degraded. Quality control
improves folding efficiency by retaining proteins in the special folding
environment of the endoplasmic reticulum, and it prevents harmful effects
that could be caused by the deployment of incompletely folded or
assembled proteins.
Institute of Biochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH),
Universit³tstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zªrich, Switzerland.
Posttranslational Quality Control: Folding, Refolding, and Degrading
Proteins
Sue Wickner, Michael R. Maurizi, and Susan Gottesman
Science Dec 3 1999: 1888-1893. [Abstract] [...]
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/286/5446/1888
Polypeptides emerging from the ribosome must fold into stable three-
dimensional structures and maintain that structure throughout their
functional lifetimes. Maintaining quality control over protein structure and
function depends on molecular chaperones and proteases, both of which
can recognize hydrophobic regions exposed on unfolded polypeptides.
Molecular chaperones promote proper protein folding and prevent
aggregation, and energy-dependent proteases eliminate irreversibly
damaged proteins. The kinetics of partitioning between chaperones and
proteases determines whether a protein will be destroyed before it folds
properly. When both quality control options fail, damaged proteins
accumulate as aggregates, a process associated with amyloid diseases.
Quality Control Mechanisms During Translation
Michael Ibba and and Dieter Soll
Science Dec 3 1999: 1893-1897. [Abstract] [...]
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/286/5446/1893
Translation uses the genetic information in messenger RNA (mRNA) to
synthesize proteins. Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are charged with an amino
acid and brought to the ribosome, where they are paired with the
corresponding trinucleotide codon in mRNA. The amino acid is attached to
the nascent polypeptide and the ribosome moves on to the next codon. The
cycle is then repeated to produce a full-length protein. Proofreading and
editing processes are used throughout protein synthesis to ensure the
faithful translation of genetic information. The maturation of tRNAs and
mRNAs is monitored, as is the identity of amino acids attached to tRNAs.
Accuracy is further enhanced during the selection of aminoacyl-tRNAs on
the ribosome and their base pairing with mRNA. Recent studies have begun
to reveal the molecular mechanisms underpinning quality control and go
some way to explaining the phenomenal accuracy of translation first
observed over three decades ago.
Quality Control by DNA Repair
Tomas Lindahl and Richard D. Wood
Science Dec 3 1999: 1897-1905. [Abstract] [...]
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/286/5446/1897
Faithful maintenance of the genome is crucial to the individual and to
species. DNA damage arises from both endogenous sources such as water
and oxygen and exogenous sources such as sunlight and tobacco smoke. In
human cells, base alterations are generally removed by excision repair
pathways that counteract the mutagenic effects of DNA lesions. This
serves to maintain the integrity of the genetic information, although not all
of the pathways are absolutely error-free. In some cases, DNA damage is
not repaired but is instead bypassed by specialized DNA polymerases.
[...]
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"In some instances, the evidence for evolution is meager and/or equivocal.
Creationists focus attention on any tendency to acceptance of such
evidence carte blanche. Perhaps the greatest contribution creationists are
currently making to science is their recognition of "creeping dogmatism" in
the science of evolution Through their efforts, it is likely that science
textbooks in California will have to retreat from such dogmatic statements
as "Life began in the primordial sea at least three billion years ago." An
acceptable revision of this concept might be "Most scientists have
interpreted from the fossil record that life began in the primordial sea at
estimates exceeding three billion years ago." This is as it should be.
Absolutes have no place in science. The scientist should carefully avoid
dogmatic statements, couching all conclusions in relativistic terms. When
the scientist fails to do this, other members of the scientific community
must be ready to correct such errors. If evolutionists do not keep their own
house in order, the creationists stand ready to attack their veracity."
(Stansfield W.D., "The Science of Evolution", [1977], Macmillan: New
York NY, 1983, Eighth Printing, p11)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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