No New Information? Rejecting the Creationist Myth with Basic Genetics

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No New Information?Rejecting the Creationist
Myth with Basic Genetics
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No New Information!

• A common creationist argument is that evolution
  is incapable of producing new genetic
  information.
• There are many varieties of claims regarding this
  argument. However, only rarely will a
  creationist actually provide a definition of
  genetic information.
• (Those who do are easily refuted.)

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No New Information!

• Using only a rudimentary understanding of genetic
  mutations, we can show that evolution can produce
  characteristics that did not previously exist.

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Quick Review Mutations

• Point substitution
• One base is replaced by another
• CCGTAG becomes CCGAAG
• Additions
• One or more bases are added
• CCGTAG becomes CCGTGAG

• Deletions
• One or more bases are deleted
• CCGTAG becomes CCGAG
• Duplications
• A block of bases is duplicated
• CCGTAG becomes CCGTACGTAG

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Point Mutations
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE BIG CAT ATE THE
FAT BAT
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Additions
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE BIG CAT ATE THE
FAT RED RAT
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Addition Resulting in a Frameshift
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE BIG CAT ATE TQH
EFA TRA T
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Frameshifts
http//www.nmsr.org/nylon.htm
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Deletion
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE CAT ATE THE FAT
RAT
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Deletion Resulting in a Frameshift
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE BIG ATA TET HEF
ATR AT
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Duplication
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE BIG CAT ATE THE
FAT FAT RAT
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Duplication Resulting in a Frameshift
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE BIG CAT ATE THE
FAA TET HEF ATR AT
STOP
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Inversion
THE BIG CAT ATE THE FAT RAT THE BIG TAF EHT ETA
TAC RAT
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Frameshifts
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Frameshifts
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Nylon Bug

• In the early 1980s, scientists discovered
  bacteria that subsisted on nylon.
• The enzyme responsible for metabolizing nylon
  did not break down any other molecule.
• The type of chemical bond between nylon monomers
  does not exist in nature.

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Nylon Bug

• But this new read-out is still a subset of the
  already existing DNA. The frame-shift mutation
  did not add onto the existing DNA rather it only
  scrambled what was there! There is no way around
  it, the variation or changes cannot become
  massive changes needed because if all it does is
  re-arrange the existing DNA it is limited to that
  DNA.
• http//www.creationwiki.net/index.php?titleMutati
  ons_don27t_add_information

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Carbamoyl Phosphate Synthetase
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2'
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The Easy Way
1001001 vs. 10010011001011
Which contains more information?

1. 1001001 has more information
2. 10010011001011 has more information
3. Neither one has more information than the other

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The Easy Way
1001001 vs. 10010011001011
If you chose B
Start with 1001001 (which has less information)
Undergo duplication, which results in
10010011001001
Undergo a point mutation, which results in
10010011001011
Information content has increased!
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The Easy Way
1001001 vs. 10010011001011
If you chose A
Start with 10010011001011
1) Undergo a deletion, which results in 1001001
or 2a) Undergo a deletion, which results in
1001011 2b) Undergo a point mutation, which
results in 1001001
Information content has increased!
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The Easy Way
1001001 vs. 10010011001011
If you chose C
Then your definition of genetic information is
so meaningless that new characteristics can arise
without an increase in genetic information.
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With a Genetic Example
GCAUGUACAGUAGGACUU
ACACAGCAUGACUUGACUCU
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With a Genetic Example
GCAUGUACAGUAGGACUU
GCAUGUACAGGAUGACUU by inversion
GCACAGGAUGACUU by deletion
GCACAGGAUGACUUGACUU by duplication
ACACAGGAUGACUUGACUU by point substitution
ACACAGGAUGACUUGACUCU by addition
ACACAGCAUGACUUGACUCU
ACACAGCAUGACUUGACUCU by point substitution
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With a Genetic Example
GCAUGUACAGUAGGACUU
GCAUGUACAGUAGGACUU by inversion
GCAUGUACAGGAUGACUU by addition
GCACAGGAUGACUU by deletion
GCACAGGAUGACUUGACUU by point substitution
ACACAGGAUGACUUGACUU by deletion
ACACAGGAUGACUUGACUCU by point substitution
ACACAGCAUGACUUGACUCU
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The Bottom Line

• The claim that evolution cannot produce new
  information can be disproved using only basic
  knowledge of genetic mutations and simple common
  sense.
• If there are two sequences, A and B, such that a
  mutation in sequence A that results in loss of
  information forms sequence B, then it is possible
  for sequence B to undergo the opposite mutation
  and form sequence A, which results in an increase
  in information.