>I am going to spend some time over the next few months deciding if I am
>going to continue my involvement from Scotland. First, since I won't have my
>library and might not have as much access to the latest information, I won't
>be up to date in the areas I have enjoyed debating in over the past few
>years. I don't want to be one of those who debates from an out of date
>knowledge base--as I have often complained, too many christians already do
>that. Secondly, I won't be able to sell my books from there. Thirdly my
>right hand is beginning to bother me again. The old timers who remember me
>from 1996 will recall that they had to move my nerve at my elbow because I
>was cutting it in two. My hand could probably use a rest for a while anyway.
>Fourth, I think I have pretty much said what I think needs to be said about
>the issues of science and christian faith. Obviously, my views are not
>something that most modern Christians find acceptable. One can only spit
>into the breeze so long. If I continue in this area I may only write an
>occasional article or two. I know I will remain involved up to the point of
>departure (whenever that is) and then pull back for a while. My new job will
>require a lot of effort the first year (learning the geology and geophysics
>of the North Sea) so I don't know if I really want to keep up this pace. I
>will decide that when I get over there and see what 18 hours a day of
>darkness does to one's mind this winter.
>
>Anyway, I just thought some one might be interested in this news.
>
>glenn
>
Glenn,
Sorry to hear you may have to taper off your contributions to the group,
but congratulations on your successes in the oil finding business. This
discussion list is the most intelligent and courteous one I have ever
lurked on, and you are a major contributor in both respects. I wish we
could get all evangelicals to have the same intolerance for intellectual
mediocrity that you do.
Incidentally, I just found a reference that you might find interesting:
Welkin E. Johnson and John M. Coffin
Constructing primate phylogenies from ancient retrovirus sequences
PNAS 1999 96: 10254-10260.
Abstract
The genomes of modern humans are riddled with thousands of endogenous
retroviruses (HERVs), the proviral remnants of ancient viral infections of the
primate lineage. Most HERVs are nonfunctional, selectively neutral loci. This
fact, coupled with their sheer abundance in primate genomes, makes HERVs ideal
for exploitation as phylogenetic markers. Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs)
provide phylogenetic information in two ways: (i) by comparison of integration site
polymorphism and (ii) by orthologous comparison of evolving, proviral,
nucleotide sequence. In this study, trees are constructed with the noncoding
long terminal repeats (LTRs) of several ERV loci. Because the two LTRs of
an ERV are identical at the time of integration but evolve independently, each ERV
locus can provide two estimates of species phylogeny based on molecular
evolution of the same ancestral sequence. Moreover, tree topology is highly
sensitive to conversion events, allowing for easy detection of sequences
involved in recombination as well as correction for such events. Although other
animal species are rich in ERV sequences, the specific use of HERVs in this
study allows comparison of trees to a well established phylogenetic standard,
that of the Old World primates. HERVs, and by extension the ERVs of other
species, constitute a unique and plentiful resource for studying the
evolutionary history of the Retroviridae and their animal hosts.
I have never been confident about my ability to evaluate fossil evidence.
Thinking about morphology gives me a headache. But I know something about
sequences. I do protein alignments and searches all the time for my
research. I find this kind of evidence of mobile sequences inserted at the
same place in different species to be absolutely convincing of common
descent. Do you recall any reviews in PSCF or elsewhere of this kind of
evidence presented to convince fundamentalists of common descent? The point
is never made in the regular scientific literature, since it would be
regarded as an exercise in the profound grasp of the obvious.
Best regards and may the ghost of Dad Joiner be with you, ;)
Preston G.
Preston Garrison, Ph.D.
Instructor
UTHSCSA-Biochem. Dept. Insert the usual disclaimers here.
MSC 7760
7703 Floyd Curl Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78229-3900
garrisonp@uthscsa.edu
210-567-3702
http://biochem.uthscsa.edu/~barnes
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 09 2000 - 17:49:24 EDT