New code found within DNA

[GoSeminoles!]

More fascinating science reported today by the NY Times. It appears that within DNA there may be a second layer of coding previously unknown that helps explain how DNA works.

Researchers believe they have found a second code in DNA in addition to the genetic code.

In a living cell, the DNA double helix wraps around a nucleosome, above center, and binds to some of its proteins, known as histones.

The genetic code specifies all the proteins that a cell makes. The second code, superimposed on the first, sets the placement of the nucleosomes, miniature protein spools around which the DNA is looped. The spools both protect and control access to the DNA itself.

The discovery, if confirmed, could open new insights into the higher order control of the genes, like the critical but still mysterious process by which each type of human cell is allowed to activate the genes it needs but cannot access the genes used by other types of cell.

The new code is described in the current issue of Nature by Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute in Israel and Jonathan Widom of Northwestern University in Illinois and their colleagues.

List of institutions involved in this potentially amazing discovery:

Weizmann Institute
Northwestern University

Where is the Discovery Institute on this list? Doesn't seem to be there. Let me check again. Nope, still not. Hmmm, but it is on the list of organizations advertising for anti-evolution BOE candidates in Kansas. I wonder what this all means?

 

[NASAg03]

More fascinating science reported today by the NY Times. It appears that within DNA there may be a second layer of coding previously unknown that helps explain how DNA works.

List of institutions involved in this potentially amazing discovery:

Weizmann Institute
Northwestern University

Where is the Discovery Institute on this list? Doesn't seem to be there. Let me check again. Nope, still not. Hmmm, but it is on the list of organizations advertising for anti-evolution BOE candidates in Kansas. I wonder what this all means?

i means that there are more secular organizations with much more money and resources performing research than the DI. that's all it means.

with a limited set of people, and limited money, the DI can only research so much. not sure what else you are trying to say here, other than the slam the DI. seems to be the common past-time on C&E, so i'm not really surprised.

how about next time just posting the article and link, rather than interjecting your personal angst against DI into your post.

the discovery is interesting, and adds to the amazement of life as we know it. does this mean all forms of life wrap their DNA around a protein ball? do all forms of life have these selector proteins, or just the more complex ones?

based on ToE, i'm guessing at some point cells evolved this feature for easier data access, so maybe this could be used to pin-point where DNA reading and access changed, along with varied cell developement?

 

[MewtwoX]

i means that there are more secular organizations with much more money and resources performing research than the DI. that's all it means.

with a limited set of people, and limited money, the DI can only research so much. not sure what else you are trying to say here, other than the slam the DI.

The only problem here is the DI aren't really involved in any significant discoveries or research of Biology.

Very odd for a Think-Tank...

 

[Dr.GH]

Gee, I don't see the Institute for Creation Research, or Answers in Genesis either. Nor do they hold any patents on medicines or any other life saving technology. Kent Hovind boasted that he took in million$$ (for God of course), but who did he endow?

 

[GoSeminoles!]

with a limited set of people, and limited money, the DI can only research so much. not sure what else you are trying to say here, other than the slam the DI. seems to be the common past-time on C&E, so i'm not really surprised.

You're right in that my commentary is meant to slam the DI. This is because I have never seen any group of people scream so long and so loudly to be taken seriously as a scientific research institution and yet have absolutely no scientific output to show for all their bluster. Yet, they do seem to have plenty of time and money for lobbying school boards and state legislatures. Obviously, their "science" function is just a front for what is actually a political organization. In short, the DI is collection of liars and I am going to bash them for it at every opportunity.

 

[caravelair]

very cool! thanks for posting that.

 

[trunks2k]

Researchers revealed what the new code is:

up up down down left right left right b a start

We can now live 30 times longer than before.

 

[vitodabona]

Damn! One less thing that can be labeled is irreducibly complex.

 

[NASAg03]

Researchers revealed what the new code is:

up up down down left right left right b a start

We can now live 30 times longer than before.

HAHA! that brings me back to my old sega genesis days of quickly entering codes from my game informer to get infinte lives.

pretty much the only way to beat a video game w/out throwing the controller at the TV and wasting 8 hours of your summer day because the technology didn't allow you to save a game.

 

[NASAg03]

Damn! One less thing that can be labeled is irreducibly complex.

just because we understand the blueprint of life doesn't make it any less complex or reducable. irreducible complexity states that life and parts of living organisms are too complex to evolve through gradual steps.

this finding shows that the information code of life is more complex than we originally observed, and that there is a second layer of information embedded within the DNA structure.

 

[Incubusion]

Researchers revealed what the new code is:

up up down down left right left right b a start

We can now live 30 times longer than before.

Ha ha ha ha... this is made of much win. Much much win.

Anyways, as for the post itself, that's certainly interesting. Would make sense as well. Sort of I suppose. I've never looked too deeply in the process of cell differentiation.

 

[caravelair]

just because we understand the blueprint of life doesn't make it any less complex or reducable. irreducible complexity states that life and parts of living organisms are too complex to evolve through gradual steps.

actually, what IC really states is that IC cannot be produced by evolution via gradual successive addition of parts. the IC argument of course ignores the fact that evolution can (a) remove parts and (b) co-opt existing parts for a new function. both of these mechanisms allow for the evolution of IC systems, so IC does not work as an argument against evolution.

this finding shows that the information code of life is more complex than we originally observed, and that there is a second layer of information embedded within the DNA structure.

which proves nothing about evolution or ID.

 

[Vainglorious]

i means that there are more secular organizations with much more money and resources performing research than the DI. that's all it means.

with a limited set of people, and limited money, the DI can only research so much. not sure what else you are trying to say here, other than the slam the DI. seems to be the common past-time on C&E, so i'm not really surprised.

how about next time just posting the article and link, rather than interjecting your personal angst against DI into your post.

DI has funding from many wealthy sources, most famously Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson, Jr and even the Gates Foundation (not science related issue)

AIG is connected with gospel.com which is connected to the billionaire founder of Amway, Richard M. DeVos.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/GLPH.html

There is no shortage of potential finance in the Creationist movement.

 

[NASAg03]

DI has funding from many wealthy sources, most famously Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson, Jr and even the Gates Foundation (not science related issue)

AIG is connected with gospel.com which is connected to the billionaire founder of Amway, Richard M. DeVos.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/GLPH.html

There is no shortage of potential finance in the Creationist movement.

OP was still comparing research from thousands of colleges, health & research centers, and companies with a few creationist organizations.

we both know there are much more non-creation resources (organizations, people, sponsors, and money) than the creationist research / science organizations.

i didn't say they have no resources. i said they have much fewer resources (orders of magnitude less) than those with less creation-oriented objectives.

 

[h2whoa]

i said they have much fewer resources (orders of magnitude less) than those with less creation-oriented objectives.

Point is, if they were legit, they should be producing some real science. Each institution is only capable of producing a tiny amount of the total research published each year.

Nobody's asking the DI to publish as much research as the rest of the entire scientific community, that would be insane. But if they are legit, they should be able to publish as much as the research group I'm in. Probably more as they have more money and more people than my group has.

Even on an individual institution to institution comparisson, the DI fails miserably. Not a lot of Discovery, but a whole lot of Institutionalisation needed.