17Sep 2025 by Post

To a Pro-Intelligent Design Paper, Biologist Jerry Coyne Reacts with Question-Begging

cellular life, co-origination, cofactors, David A. Hullender, DNA repair, elementary particles, Elsevier, Elsevier journals, enzymes, Evolution, Fred Hoyle, Intelligent Design, Jerry Coyne, junkyard tornado, minimal living cell, Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma mycoides, naturalistic evolutionary processes, Olen R. Brown, oxidative phosphorylation, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, universe, University of Missouri, University of Texas at Arlington, vitamins, Why Evolution Is True
The paper seeks to elucidate the plausibility of naturalistic evolutionary processes generating a minimal living cell. Source
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15Nov 2019 by Post

“Genomic Perfection” Versus “Cellular Survival”

cell, cellular survival, cleaning robots, DNA, DNA integrity, DNA lesion, DNA repair, environmental mutagens, genome, genomic perfection, Intelligent Design, mutations, passenger mutations, quality control mechanisms, Science (journal), WALL-E
Here is a thought-provoking hypothesis in this week’s Science about “genomic perfection” versus “cellular survival.” From “Cellular survival over genomic perfection“ (open access): The high number of passenger mutations, equivalent to 1000 to 10,000 per genome, in normal cells raises questions regarding why DNA quality control mechanisms have failed to limit mutagenesis. Perhaps a somewhat counterintuitive perspective can be considered: If DNA quality control pathways monitor and preserve DNA integrity too strictly, it could be detrimental to cellular survival. The repair of DNA lesions has a cost: It requires time and cellular resources. If every DNA lesion in a cell were repaired, avoiding mutations altogether, the cellular cost associated with performing that repair would have to increase in direct proportion to the amount of damage. In conditions of high DNA damage — through exposure to…
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