CRSQ Abstracts, 2016, Volume 52, Number 4 (Spring)

Human Genetic Data Affirms Biblical History on Many Levels and Is an Excellent Resource  for Creation-based Research

Robert W. Carter and Jean K. Lightner

Some have claimed that modern genetic data is at odds with biblical history. Yet closer examination reveals that the opposite is true. In terms of the origin of humanity, genetic data support the fact that all humans alive today can trace their ancestry back to a single male and a single female. When evolutionary assumptions are discarded and actual observable mutation rates are used, the molecular clock indicates that those individuals lived within a biblical time frame. Analysis of the hu-man mitochondrial data reveals three major mitochondrial lineages, which appear to point to the three daughters-in-law of Noah. The Y chromosome distribution pattern supports a single paternally based dispersion as expected by the Babel event. Yet many questions remain, even as genetic data accumulate and computers make modeling more accessible to those outside the traditional university setting. The time is ripe for productive creationist research to answer important questions about the genetic history of humans using the wealth of data and tools now at our disposal.

Human Uniqueness and Accelerated Storytelling: How Conserved Regulatory Regions in the Genome Challenge Evolution

Jeffrey P. Tomkins

The Bible clearly states that humans were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27). This makes us distinct in certain ways from the rest of the creatures God created, including primates. In addi-tion to obvious outwardly visible trait differences, it would make sense that we would find certain regions of the genome that are distinctly different between humans and other animals, and this is in fact seen. Secularists postulate that these genetic differences arose from acceler-ated evolution since the time that humans allegedly diverged from apes; thus they call these regions human accelerated regions (HARs). HARs are exceedingly problematic for evolutionists due to the fact that they tend to be highly conserved across vertebrates but are markedly different in humans. However, within supposed vertebrate lineages, many of these regions are taxonomically isolated—they seem to arise suddenly—with no evolutionary history. A new phylogenetic analysis of 105 HAR genes in 10 different vertebrate taxa show that these sequences also display remarkable phylogenic discordance on a broad scale. This is inconsistent with the idea that these genes were generally conserved for tens or hundreds of millions of years but then suddenly evolved into taxonomically restricted forms. The data is more consistent with the creation model, wherein the genes that encode taxonomic distinction were custom designed.


Adaptive Genetic Changes by Design: A Look at the DNA Editing by Activation-induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID)

Jean Lightner

According to evolutionary thinking, adaptive genetic changes are the result of random (non-purposeful) mutations and natural selection. While creationists do not need to account for the assumed changes that turn microbes into people, our model certainly points to a considerable amount of adaptive change that has occurred within created kinds. The naturalistic mechanisms proposed by evolutionists appear woefully inadequate to account for these. A look at the immune system reveals several different enzymes that are used to edit DNA; one of them is activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). AID is involved in gene conversion, somatic hypermutation, and class-switch recombination in B lymphocytes. While each of these begins with AID converting a cytosine residue to a uracil residue, the different outcomes are a function of different proteins being recruited to process the lesion. Since the activity of AID could be disastrous if not kept in its proper place, it is well regulated and tightly controlled at many levels. The well-designed DNA editing function of AID and other proteins in the immune system give reason to believe that adaptive alleles in various populations have similarly arisen by the providence of God, the Great Designer, and not by the naturalistic mechanisms proposed by evolutionists.

Cells as Information Processors Part I: Formal Software Principles

Royal Truman

Cells perform millions of Boolean logic operations every second using multiple independent codes with stringent formal rules instantiated on DNA, RNA, proteins, sugars, and membranes. These codes rely on elementary and concatenated symbols to define variables and values that can be written, deleted, and read from long- and shortterm memory. Computer and cellular variables are used with control structures such as “GoTo,” subroutine calls, “wait,” and to initiate and terminate iteration loops. They have well-defined data types and allowed operations. Values can be structured in arrays and linked lists. Although variables are identifiable in cells, logic is executed without a readable source code, using hardwired biochemical components and inherited molecular machines (MMs). Each code requires unique decoding MMs, and cellular codes interoperate to incorporate details located throughout the cell to permit holistic correct decisions. Tight integration between these codes is implemented using adaptor biomolecules. DNA, RNA, and proteins are used to define both variables and values for independent codes, often in overlapping regions. These biomolecules are also needed to create MMs, adaptors, and the rest of the infrastructure.

Full Article: [PDF]


Citrate Utilizing Mutants of Escherichia coli

Kevin Anderson

As part of a “long-term evolution experiment,” populations of Escherichia coli have been grown for thousands of generations in a consistent environment. During this experimental period, various mutations have altered the bacteria’s phenotype. Some of these phenotypic changes have included larger cell size and faster growth rates. The wild-type strain of E. coli can use citrate as an energy source in anaerobic conditions, but not in aerobic conditions. However, after 31,500 generations, a population of mutants developed that could aerobically utilize citrate. The formation of these Cit+ mutants entails an intriguing series of mutational steps involving both the citrate operon and other metabolic related genes. Thus, this new phenotype is frequently identified as (1) an example of the “birth of new genes,” and (2) how random mutation and natural selection can drive neo-Darwinian evolution. However, all the mutations detected in the Cit+ phenotype involve rearrangement of preexisting genes, loss of preexisting gene expression, or loss of preexisting regulation. Thus, the Cit+ mutants fail to provide a genetic example of the origin of new genes or regulatory systems. In contrast, these mutants fit precisely within predictions of a creation model; organisms have a programmed ability to adapt to specific environmental conditions.