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White blood cell
My recent article about the evolution of mammals was based on research by the Zonomia Consortium which would be spreading despondency throughout the creationist cult if only they weren't so well rehearsed at avoiding and dismissing any information that threatens their superstition.
Another area of research coming out of the data supplied by the Zonomia Consortium is the evolution of the human and other mammalian immune system, and how it has led to some of the diseases currently associated with it.
Creationists who have fallen for the intelligent design hoax and who believe the putative intelligent designer is one and the same as the Abrahamic god, might like to consider why a supposedly omnibenevolent designer would design an immune system that causes suffering. Is that through malevolence or incompetence? The same applies to those creationists who believe a god magically guided evolution, usually to comply with their arrogant, anthropocentric belief that the purpose of evolution was to create modern humans, and them in particular.
The Zoonomia Consortium was formed in 2015 by a group of scientists from several institutions, including the University of California, Davis, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The goal of the consortium was to develop a comprehensive database of animal genomes that could be used to study and compare the genetic basis of traits across different species.The Zonomia Consortium has led to the publication of eleven research papers in the journal Science, one of which reported on the work of a large international group jointly led by scientists from Uppsala University and the Broad Institute, which has shown how the mammalian immune system evolved. As the press release by Upsala University, explains:
In 2020, the Zoonomia Consortium published a paper in the journal Nature describing the results of their work. The paper, entitled "Zoonomia Consortium, A comparative genomics multitool for scientific discovery and conservation," provides an overview of the consortium's approach and the tools they developed.
The Zoonomia database includes genomic data from over 100 species of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish. The database is freely available to researchers and includes a variety of tools for analyzing and comparing genomic data, such as genome browsers, alignment tools, and gene expression analysis tools.
The Zoonomia Consortium's work has significant implications for conservation biology, as it allows researchers to compare the genetic basis of traits across different species and identify genetic factors that may be important for species survival. For example, researchers could use the Zoonomia database to identify genes that are associated with disease resistance or tolerance to environmental stressors, which could inform conservation efforts.
Reference:Lewin, H.A., Robinson, G.E., Kress, W.J. et al. Zoonomia Consortium, A comparative genomics multitool for scientific discovery and conservation. Nature 587, 240–245 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2876-6Tell me about the Zonomia Consortium.
A major international research project has surveyed and analysed the genomes of 240 different mammals. The results, now published in 11 articles in the journal Science, show how the genomes of humans and other mammals have developed over the course of evolution. The research shows which genetic changes have led to specific characteristics in different species and which mutations can cause disease.Creationists who have had the courage to read this far might now like to avoid reflecting on the fact that these papers and the entire Zonomia research is based on knowledge and understanding of the mechanisms of evolution.
In a large international project jointly led by Uppsala University and the Broad Institute, more than 30 research teams have together surveyed and analysed the genomes of 240 mammal species. The results, now published in 11 articles in the journal Science, show how the genomes of humans and other mammals have developed in the course of evolution.In combination, the 11 articles we are now publishing in Science provide an enormous amount of information about the function and development of mammalian genomes. Moreover, we have produced data that can be used for studies of evolution and medical research for many years to come.
Our results can also provide important information about whether mammals are at risk of extinction, depending on how much variation they have in their genome. This is information that can lay the foundation for understanding how to manage a species to help it survive.
A large proportion of the mutations that lead to common diseases, like diabetes or obsessive-compulsive disorder, lie outside the genes and have to do with gene regulation. Our studies make it easier to identify the mutations that lead to disease and to understand what goes wrong.
Professor Kerstin Lindblad-Toh,
Professor of Comparative Genomics
Uppsala University
The human genome contains approximately 20,000 genes that constitute the code for manufacturing all the proteins in the body. The genome also contains instructions that direct where, when and how much of the proteins are produced. These parts of the genome, which are called regulatory elements, are much more difficult to identify than the parts that give rise to proteins. However, studying a great many mammals’ genomes makes it possible to figure out which parts of the genome are functionally important.
Preserved throughout 100 million years of evolution
The hypothesis shared by the researchers has been that if a position in the genome has been preserved throughout 100 million years of evolution, it likely serves a function in all mammals. For the first time, they have been able to test this hypothesis on a large scale.
By making a detailed survey and systematic comparison of the genomes of 240 mammals, the researchers have identified regions of the human genome with previously uncharacterised function. These regions are likely regulatory elements and are significant for the correct functioning of the genome. Mutations in these can play an important role in the origin of diseases or in the distinctive features of mammal species.
The researchers identified more than three million important regulatory elements in the human genome, about half of which were previously unknown. They were also able to ascertain that at least 10 per cent of the genome is functional, ten times as much as the approximately one per cent that codes for proteins.
Vary widely in their characteristics
The 240 different mammals in the study vary widely in their characteristics, such as the acuteness of their sense of smell or the size of their brain. The researchers were able to find regions in the genomes that lead to some species having a superior sense of smell or to certain species hibernating.
One of the studies shows that mammals had begun to change and diverge even before the Earth was hit by the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, approximately 65 million years ago.It’s exciting to now have a picture of which mutations have steered the development of specific traits in these widely divergent mammals.
Matthew Christmas, co-first author of one of the articles.
Understanding how diseases arise
The new knowledge also helps researchers understand how diseases arise, by linking the positions in the genome conserved by evolution to known conditions. This can be done for all species and will also be usable with reference to human diseases.
“Our analyses of 240 mammals give us a better insight into the regulatory signals in the genome. We calibrated our results on positions that are known to contribute to disease, and then could use these to suggest additional positions which could be prioritised for neurological traits, such as schizophrenia or immune conditions including asthma or eczema,” says Jennifer Meadows, researcher and co-first author of the second article, which focuses on how the project’s data can contribute to knowledge about diseases.
The genome of healthy and sick people is compared to understand which mutations lead to disease. This produces a picture of the region in the genome that may be important, but does not yield an exact knowledge of which mutation causes the disease.In patients with medulloblastoma, we found many new mutations in evolutionarily conserved positions. We hope that analysis of these mutations will lay the ground for new diagnostics and therapies.
Professor Karin Forsberg-Nilsson, leader of the cancer part of the study.
Professor of Stem Cell Research
Uppsala University.
Studies of malignant brain tumour in children
The researchers also studied the cancer medulloblastoma, which is the most common type of malignant brain tumour in children. Although modern treatments have improved the prognosis, not all children can be cured. Moreover, those that survive often experience lifelong side-effects from the aggressive treatment.
Elin Bäckström
There is not the slightest hint that the Theory of Evolution is anything but a complete and accurate explanation for the observable evidence and so can be used to understand how systems like the mammalian immune system evolved and how that knowledge can be used to understand immune system-related diseases such as childhood cancers arise and where to target research aimed at curing and/or preventing them.
Nor is there the slightest hint that magic may have played a part somewhere in the past, although creationists who believe it did now need to explain either the incompetence or malevolent intent of the magician.
Properly understood, the work of the Zoonomia Consortium should be deeply worrying for creationists and those odious frauds who parasitise their childish credulity for a living.
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