Michael J. Behe A (R)evolutionary Biologist
Topic

Evolutionary Pathways

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Digital illustration of  DNA
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Response to Carl Zimmer and Joseph Thornton, Part 3

The science writer Carl Zimmer posted an invited replyhttp://tinyurl.com/yhpm3t7 on his blog from Joseph Thornton of the University of Oregon to my recent comments about Thornton’s work. This is the third of several posts addressing it. References will appear in the last post. Now back to Thornton’s first point, the role of neutral mutations (which he sometimes labels “permissive” mutations). At several places in his post Thornton implies I’m unaware of the possibilities opened up by genetic drift: “Behe’s discussion of our 2009 paper in Nature is a gross misreading because it ignores the importance of neutral pathways in protein evolution…. Behe’s first error is to ignore the fact that adaptive combinations of mutations can and do evolve by pathways involving neutral intermediates…. Read More ›

Genetic Disorder DNA Molecule Structure
Colorful DNA molecule. Structure of the genetic code. Genetic Syndrome and Genetic Disorder, 3D illustration of science concept.
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Response to Carl Zimmer and Joseph Thornton, Part 1

The science writer Carl Zimmer posted an invited replyhttp://tinyurl.com/yhpm3t7 on his blog from Joseph Thornton of the University of Oregon to my recent comments about Thornton’s work. This is the first of several posts addressing it. References will appear in the last post. I must say, it never ceases to amaze me how otherwise-very-smart folks like Zimmer and Thornton fail to grasp pretty simple points when it comes to problems for Darwinian mechanisms. Let me start slowly with a petty complaint in Carl Zimmer’s intro to the post. Zimmer is annoyed that I think Thornton’s latest work is “great”, yet I thought his previous work published a few years ago was “piddling”. “Why the change of heart?”, wonders Zimmer. It’s really Read More ›

damaged-section-of-dna-diagnosis-and-early-detection-genetic-mutations-genetic-disorders-deviations-gene-therapy-modification-of-cells-to-produce-a-therapeutic-effect-paternity-confirmation-stockpack-adobe-stock
Damaged section of DNA. Diagnosis and early detection. Genetic mutations. Genetic disorders, deviations. Gene therapy modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect. Paternity confirmation.
Image licensed via Adobe Stock

Waiting Longer for Two Mutations, Part 3

Dear Readers, An interesting paper appeared several months ago in an issue of the journal Genetics, “Waiting for Two Mutations: With Applications to Regulatory Sequence Evolution and the Limits of Darwinian Evolution” (Durrett, R & Schmidt, D. 2008. Genetics 180: 1501-1509). This is the third of five posts that discusses it. Cited references will appear in the last post. The third problem also concerns the biology of the system. I’m at a bit of a loss here, because the problem is not hard to see, and yet in their reply they stoutly deny the mistake. In fact, they confidently assert it is I who am mistaken. I had written in my letter, ‘‘… their model is incomplete on its own terms because it Read More ›