Skippy surprises scientists
Photo Wikipedia
by Carl Wieland
Published: 20 January 2009(GMT+10)
Feeling jumpy? It may not be from what you think. Researchers at Australia’s
government-backed Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics have mapped the genetic
code of these marsupials, and were surprised at the amazing similarity to that of
humans.
Looking at the huge outward differences between us and roos, it is obvious that
the same gene must be able to make quite different proteins.
The Centre’s Director, Jenny Graves, said, ‘There is great chunks of
the human genome which is sitting right there in the kangaroo genome.’ In
fact, according to a report in Australia’s national newspaper, the 20,000–25,000
genes in the kangaroo (roughly the same number as in humans) are ‘largely
the same’ as in people.1
Graves said elsewhere that ‘a lot of them are in the same order’.2
The reports made no mention of the percentage similarity. It sounds like it would
be extremely high—perhaps embarrassingly so, given that unlike chimps, kangaroos
are not supposed to be our ‘close relatives’.
Photo Wikipedia
Looking at the huge outward differences between us and roos, it is obvious that
the same gene must be able to make quite different proteins. But then, that should
already have been obvious from the fact that despite people having only about 20,000–25,000
genes,3 our bodies can
make about 100,000 different proteins.
Evolutionists have long proclaimed that apes and people share a high percentage
of DNA. Hence their surprise at these findings that ‘Skippy’ has a genetic
makeup similar to ours. But even granted that chimps and humans have a high degree
of shared DNA (progressively
being revised downward as genomic knowledge increases), even if it were
90%, would that make them 90% human, as most interpret this? It is worth repeating
what prominent evolutionist/geneticist
Steve Jones has said in the context of man/chimp DNA-sharing: ‘We
also share about 50% of our DNA with bananas and that doesn’t make us half
bananas, either from the waist up or the waist down.’4
This discovery, as with so many awkward discoveries (i.e. awkward for evolution)
previously, will no doubt end up displaying the ingenuity of evolutionists in making
any fact, predicted or not, fit their materialistic worldview. Meanwhile, it showcases
a much more incredible ingenuity for those with eyes to see—that of the Creator
in coding a vast variety of creatures with such amazing economy of information.
(See also Homologous structures
and the presumption of originality.)
Related articles
References
- Trounson, A., Micro view of macropods as kangaroo genome mapped,
The Australian, <www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24671699-27703,00.html>,
19 November 2008. Return to text.
- Kangaroo genes close to humans, Reuters, <www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4AH1P020081118>,
18 November 2008. Return to text.
- Although it could be many years before we know for sure just
how many protein-coding genes we have. See How Many Genes Are in the Human Genome?
<http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/faq/genenumber.shtml>;
and increasingly it seems that the non-protein-coding DNA is more important. See
Astonishing DNA complexity update Return to text.
- Jones, S., interviewed at the Australian Museum on The Science Show, broadcast on ABC radio, 12 January 2002, <www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s456478.htm>,
25 January 2002. Return to text.
|
