Posted: Oct 02, 2017 12:31 pm
Greyman wrote:Uh... They are not independent. The DNA contains genes that encode production of protein moleculesZadocfish2 wrote:This thread went in kind of a weird direction since I last checked it...
Weren't we talking about evolutionary paths? (also it's cool how apparently proteins change and adapt with time in a way similar to DNA but, presumably, using different mechanics)
DNA sites transcribe mRNA strands, which travel from the nucleus through the cytoplasm to ribosome organelles where translation of the triplet code instructs rRNA and tRNA construct a polypeptide.
Which is indictative of that in the end all of us oxygen dependent organisms are convergent in our biochemistry. Then the issue becomes at what point does the term convergent hold value? To me, and probably many others, this question is THE question. By studying the issue we are able to find shared markers in the genomes of all life as we know it. These markers are consistent. This, in turn, allows us to look real close at the differences in the genome of different forms of life as we know it. From this we can see where divergence happens, and these divergence markers allows us to formulate a sort of genetic cladistics to ID genomes with species level precision. Beyond this we are becoming able to ID individuals of a population of species. Form my paleo centric viewpoint the study of genetic markers still extant in the genome across deep time is facilitating and enabling the capability to see evolution in ways unimaginable 30 years ago.
This tends to influence my prejudice towards looking at the differences instead of the similarities. One wonders if the differences, when examined genetically, between the convergent adaptation toward a wing flap in a maniraptoran theropod, and a basal pterosaur, were similar. The odds of getting that data to examine are approaching zero. I can imagine a vastly different set of genes, and the protiens they expressed, were responsible for giving rise to the skin flap emergence in both the basal pterosaur and the (m.) theropod. So, in my version of reality, it's a case of divergence, and convergence, at the same time.
(Criticism welcomed)
RS