The Modern World: A Result of Mutation of Genes and Evolution

Prof JC Sanasam *

This is a model of the ligated version of a DNA tetrahedron with six 20bp edges, as described in Goodman, R.P.; Schaap, I.A.T.; Tardin, C.F.; Erben, C.M.; Berry, R.M.; Schmidt, C.F.; Turberfield, A.J. (9 December 2005)
Pix - Wikipedia/Antony-22

... all things wax and roll onwards ... nothing is ever completed,
but it keeps on continuing in an attempt to complete .. - Carlyle

Why did some ethnic highlanders prefer to stay back and inhabit in the mountains and hills whereas some others of their kith and kin left such terrain, did not come back there but migrated in the plain or elsewhere?

Why did the subarctic fish settle to survive in the ice, not in the Amazon River of hot equatorial zone or elsewhere? Why did the polar bear prefer to dive beneath the ice to catch fish, not in the Congo River or any other river elsewhere? Why do some moths have light colours and some others dark?

Atherosclerosis (thickening of the walls of blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure and lack of blood circulation, then cell-death, and eventually brain or heart strokes) is principally a disease of modern age, widely prevalent, one produced by modern diets and modern life-styles. There is a community in Italy near Milan whose residents, in spite of consuming modern diets and having modern life-style, do not get atherosclerosis because of a fortunate mutation in one of their forebears.

Are not these interesting facts? Anybody would like to know the reason behind. In the days of yore our priests and elders would have said, Krishna gee leelani, Ishwar kee leela hei, Allah kee meherbani hei or it's God's will. In fact it is the pattern of natural selections in the process of evolutions.

The mutation related with anti-atherosclerosis gene is particularly interesting because the person who had the original mutation has been identified.

Terms like DNA, mutation and words of such kind should no longer be regarded as highly technical nomenclature. The notion that such are to be used by highly qualified technologists alone should be given up. Because these are closely related with the origin of life on earth, then further dissemination and promulgation into various organisms and species, their evolution process, and even with the differences among human beings, which everybody takes interest in and is concerned with.

Mutation means alteration in the genetic material. Tissues in the living organisms grow with cell division and proliferation. In each cell in its nucleus there are certain thread-like materials called chromosomes. All human cells except the father-sperm cells and mother-egg cells have 46 chromosomes. But the father-sperm cell and mother-egg cell each has only 23 chromosomes. The 46 chromosomes in non-sex cells are copies of the 23 from the mother's egg and 23 from the father's sperm. The chromosomes contain gene bound DNA, a coil of protein substance.

The DNA is a sequence-structure of four bases or basic nucleotides Adenine (A), Guanine (G), Cytosine (C) and Thymine (T), all proteinous substances. According to the pattern of the sequence-structure of these bases the DNA of the cells of each living organism has a distinct mapping and character, different from any of all other organisms or species.

Mutations occur frequently during DNA duplication in the process of cell division. And this brings the changes among the living organisms including human beings during the process of evolution. It is now an axiomatically validated fact that the first primitive or primary parent of all life-forms on the earth was a single celled living organism. That cell underwent cell division; and the great diversity of life forms that have been identified in the fossil record is evidence enough that there has been an accumulation of mutations producing a more or less constant supply of both and large variations upon which natural selection has operated for billions of years. Mutation has been the essential prerequisite for the evolution of life.

It is now clear that mutation is the source of the vast majority of DNA variations. However, it is also known now that occasionally genetic material is transferred between species, resulting in new variation for the recipient species. This is particularly true at the level of primitive single-cell organisms such as bacteria. Recent research has shown that small amounts of DNA also have been transferred by viruses between more complex organisms such as birds and mammals including humans. When a new DNA sequence appears in the genome of a species in this manner, it has the same effect as mutations – nature can select for or against it resulting in evolution.

Mutations will continue to happen; evolution has not stopped; it seems it is continuing and will continue its journey to get completed, to attain perfection; but it will never be complete. It will never attain perfection. Humans imagine perfection is God; but they will never see God nor will they attain Him or perfection. Mutations happen with great regularity. Almost all mutations are neutral. Of the remainder, benefit/harm depends on circumstances.

Birds eat the kind of moth they can see the best. Before the industrial pollution trees were often covered with light coloured lichens. So the natural selection of the moths was light colour so that the birds would not see them easily; birds ate those that had dark colour; as a result dark coloured moths were rare. Now with air pollution, the trees have become sooty, and so the natural selection of the moths has become dark colour. Birds now eat the easily visible light coloured moths; and so light coloured moths have become rare. These are all manifest-ations of mutations.

If you think deeper and deeper, the world, the universe, the living organisms, the trees, animals, and the human beings become so lovely and beautiful. Then, why so much of hatred, animosity and will of destroying the other person or the happiness of others?

If you think further and deeper, you will be able to conceive your sensibility to the rights of each living organism even; forget human rights. Moreover the meaning of privacy and non-transgression on others' area also become so clear. Read the origin of life, the origin of universe; you will find life is so beautiful.

Who says scientists are the crack-pots who ever remain crazy with concrete materials? Pythagoras, the 6th century BC Greek mathematician and musician was all along a great philosopher. He was in search of God, cause of birth and death. He was the first man who gave the light of thought that the earth is spherical and moving around.

Euclid, the great geometrician, Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Einstein were all great-great philosophers. They loved the universe and earth so much; Einstein could have written the best poem about 'time'; he never wrote in the form of poetry. But his sayings and description of universe and time are so poetic. The blame for destruction of nature should be slung on politicians not on scientists.