RNA-mediated repurposing in microbes and adapations in primate brains

Human-specific gene ARHGAP11B promotes basal progenitor amplification and neocortex expansion

Excerpt: “…the C-terminal 47 amino-acids of ARHGAP11B (after lysine-220) constitute not only a unique sequence, resulting from a frameshifting deletion (fig. S10), but also are functionally distinct from their counterpart in ARHGAP11A.”

My comment: Co-author Svante Paabo is the senior author of this 2003 publication: Natural Selection on the Olfactory Receptor Gene Family in Humans and Chimpanzees
The 2015 publication was reported as:

A gene for brain size only found in humans

Excerpt: “ARHGAP11B is the first human-specific gene where we could show that it contributes to the pool of basal brain stem cells and can trigger a folding of the neocortex. In that way, we managed to take the next step in tracing evolution”, summarizes Wieland Huttner.

My comment: The authors report the contribution of amino acid substitutions to primate brain development as if a human-specific gene had somehow automagically evolved outside the biophysical constraints of the chemistry of nutrient-dependent RNA-directed DNA methylation and RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions that differentiate the cell types of all individuals in all species.

Are they pretending not to know that Dobzhansky (1973) wrote “…the so-called alpha chains of hemoglobin have identical sequences of amino acids in man and the chimpanzee, but they differ in a single amino acid (out of 141) in the gorilla.”

See also: Evolutionary resurrection of flagellar motility via rewiring of the nitrogen regulation system

Excerpt: NtrC shares 30 percent amino acid identity with FleQ, suggesting the proteins may be able to minimally cross-react with each other’s target genes.

My comment: The fact that RNA-directed DNA methylation and RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions differentiate cell types in all individuals of all species from microbes to primates seems clear. Why would anyone continue to frame their results in the context of mutations and evolution?

See also: RNA-mediated “repurposing” is nutrient-dependent and pheromone-controlled

 

About James V. Kohl 1308 Articles
James Vaughn Kohl was the first to accurately conceptualize human pheromones, and began presenting his findings to the scientific community in 1992. He continues to present to, and publish for, diverse scientific and lay audiences, while constantly monitoring the scientific presses for new information that is relevant to the development of his initial and ongoing conceptualization of human pheromones. Recently, Kohl integrated scientific evidence that pinpoints the evolved neurophysiological mechanism that links olfactory/pheromonal input to genes in hormone-secreting cells of tissue in a specific area of the brain that is primarily involved in the sensory integration of olfactory and visual input, and in the development of human sexual preferences. His award-winning 2007 article/book chapter on multisensory integration: The Mind’s Eyes: Human pheromones, neuroscience, and male sexual preferences followed an award winning 2001 publication: Human pheromones: integrating neuroendocrinology and ethology, which was coauthored by disinguished researchers from Vienna. Rarely do researchers win awards in multiple disciplines, but Kohl’s 2001 award was for neuroscience, and his 2007 “Reiss Theory” award was for social science. Kohl has worked as a medical laboratory scientist since 1974, and he has devoted more than twenty-five years to researching the relationship between the sense of smell and the development of human sexual preferences. Unlike many researchers who work with non-human subjects, medical laboratory scientists use the latest technology from many scientific disciplines to perform a variety of specialized diagnostic medical testing on people. James V. Kohl is certified with: * American Society for Clinical Pathology * American Medical Technologists James V. Kohl is a member of: * Society for Neuroscience * Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology * Association for Chemoreception Sciences * Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality * International Society for Human Ethology * American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science * Mensa, the international high IQ society