Michael J. Behe A (R)evolutionary Biologist
Topic

Protein Evolution

rusty broken clock
The clock stamp on the old textured paper
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New Work by Thornton’s Group Supports Time-Symmetric Dollo’s Law

I never thought it would happen but, in my estimation, Richard Lenski has acquired a challenger for the title of “Best Experimental Evolutionary Scientist.” Lenski, of course, is the well-known fellow who has been growing E. coli in his lab at Michigan State for 50,000 generations in order to follow its evolutionary progress. His rival is Joseph Thornton of the University of Oregon who, by inferring the sequences of ancient proteins and then constructing (he calls it “resurrecting”) their genes in his lab, is able to characterize the properties of the ancestral proteins and discern how they may have evolved into more modern versions with different properties. I have written appreciatively about both Lenski and Thornton before, whose work indicates clear limits Read More ›

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3d rendering of Human cell or Embryonic stem cell microscope background.
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Response to Carl Zimmer and Joseph Thornton, Part 4

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 last of four posts addressing it. References appear at the bottom of this post. At the end of his post Thornton waxes wroth. Behe’s argument has no scientific merit.  It is based on a misunderstanding of the fundamental processes of molecular evolution and a failure to appreciate the nature of probability itself.  There is no scientific controversy about whether natural processes can drive the evolution of complex proteins.  The work of my research group should not be misintepreted by those who would like to pretend that there is. Well, now. I’ll Read More ›

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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 ›

close-up-the-media-plate-on-hand-medical-technicians-working-on-bacterial-culture-and-drug-resistance-of-pathogens-in-laboratory-stockpack-adobe-stock
Close up the media plate on hand medical technicians working on bacterial culture and drug resistance of pathogens in laboratory.
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Nature publishes paper on the edge of evolution, Part 2

Nature has recently published an interesting paper which places severe limits on Darwinian evolution. The manuscript, from the laboratory of Joseph Thornton at the University of Oregon, is entitled “An epistatic ratchet constrains the direction of glucocorticoid receptor evolution”. ( http://tinyurl.com/yeq2cy8 ) The work is interpreted by its authors within a standard Darwinian framework, but the results line up very well with arguments I made in The Edge of Evolution. ( http://tinyurl.com/yba6vba )This is the second of several posts discussing it. Using clever synthetic and analytical techniques, Bridgham et al (2009) show that the more recent hormone receptor protein that they synthesized, a GR-like protein, can’t easily revert to the ancestral structure and activity of an MR-like protein because its structure has been adjusted by selection Read More ›

neuron-and-antibodies-immunoglobulin-y-shaped-protein-produced-mainly-by-plasma-cells-stockpack-adobe-stock
Neuron and antibodies, immunoglobulin, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells
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Nature publishes paper on the edge of evolution, Part 1

Nature has published an interesting paper recently which places severe limits on Darwinian evolution. This is the first of several posts discussing it. The manuscript, from the laboratory of Joseph Thornton at the University of Oregon, is entitled “An epistatic ratchet constrains the direction of glucocorticoid receptor evolution”. ( http://tinyurl.com/yeq2cy8 ) The work is interpreted by its authors within a standard Darwinian framework. Nonetheless, like the important work over the years of Michigan State’s Richard Lenski on laboratory evolution of E. coli, which has shown trillions of bacteria evolving under selection for tens of thousands of generations yielding just broken genes and minor changes, the new work demonstrates the looming brick wall which confronts unguided evolution in at least one system. And it points Read More ›