> > Hasn't sufficient evidence accumulated to formally reject this
> > hypothesis? Forterre and colleagues [Biosystems (Netherlands)
28(1-3)
> > p15-3] have argued persuasively that the existence of homologous
> > DNA-polymerase genes with proofreading functions in all
groups...
>>> Probably what Woese suggested as the progenote, would represent a
> large number of qualitatively different steps of evolution,
including
> an RNA genome, later a DNA genome, probably still fragmented and
perhaps
> compartmentalized in a primitive cell membrane. Before attacking a
rather
> interesting and not well-explored idea, I would give it a further
chance.
> I would certainly not consider the publication of forterre et al
as the
> final blow against this hypothesis.
Seconded!! I had a "debate" in print recently with a VERY strange
creationist, who argued that the presence of similar
metabolic pathways in bacteria and humans was evidence that they had
been co-created, rather than because they had both evolved from a
common precursor...so the presence of "homologous" DNA (and RNA)
polymerases in all modern cellular organisms is evidence that they
all descend from a common DNA-containing precursor - the only one to
successfully make the transition from and RNA to a DNA genome,
perhaps? Of course, some viruses stayed as RNA, but most
evolutionists forget about them...!
____________________________________________________________________
| Ed Rybicki, PhD | |
| (ed at micro.uct.ac.za) | "Lord, won't you buy me |
| Dept Microbiology | A Mer-ce-des Benz |
| University of Cape Town | My friends all have Porsches |
| | I must make amends..." | |
| Private Bag, Rondebosch | |
| 7700, South Africa | - Janis Joplin |
| fax: 27-21-650 4023 | (Pearl, 1971) |
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