From The Cells of Common Ancestry To Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tyrannosaurus rex belongs to the domain, eukaryotes. Each of the three domains contain the 500 immortal genes. Also, eukaryotes are organisms in which the DNA is organized into chromosomes, which are contained within a clearly defined nuclear membrane. This domain includes slime molds, fungi, plants, insects, and animals.

The Third Thought Experiment

         The goal of the third thought experiment is to calculate the  maximum overall probability of generating a representative gene during the evolution of the cells of common ancestry into eukaryotes.

          The question for this third thought experiment is:

                   What is the maximum overall probability of generating one                              representative gene for  the T. Rex within an unplanned evolution?

         This thought experiment will calculate the maximum overall probability by multiplying the maximum number of mutations  available by the probability of generating a representative gene. The thought experiment will provide one number─the maximum overall probability.

         The interpretation of the data will be used to answer this further question:

                   Does an unplanned evolution have the potential to generate the genes                       required for the evolution of the Tyrannosaurus rex from the cells of                         common ancestry?

         Heritable genetic mutations are present in the gamete. Mutations occurring in other cells and tissues may affect the individual organism but are not inherited. The maximum number of heritable mutations can be calculated from a time frame, the sum of the ancestral population from the cells of common ancestry to the T. rex, and the frequency of mutation for this diverse population.

The Minority

         William B. Whitman, Department of Microbiology, David C. Coleman, Department of Ecology, and William J. Wiebe, Department of Marine Sciences, all three from the University of Georgia. They wrote the paper, “Prokaryotes: The unseen majority.”1 The other domains, including eukaryotes, are in the minority. The authors calculated the cellular production rate for all prokaryotes or bacteria at an estimated rate of 1.7x10³⁰ cells per year.2 Therefore, with prokaryotes in the majority, the production rate of eukaryotes is less than 1.7x10³⁰ organisms per year. Since evolution has occurred for less than four billion years, the total number of all eukaryotes ever existent is fewer than 6.8x10³⁹ individuals.3 This number can be rounded up to fewer than 1040 individuals.

         How many genetic mutations would fewer than 10⁴⁰ eukaryotic organisms produce? In the year 2000, humans were reported to carry 175 new heritable mutations per generation.4 As of 2009, newborns were reported to acquire “a total of 50 to 100 new mutations at the diploid level (think fertilized egg), a small subset of which must be deleterious.”5 “(T)he human per-generation rate would be 2 to 11 times higher if the rate of accumulation of mutations in replicating germline DNA were as high as that in invertebrates and Arabidopsis.”6

         For this thought experiment concerning the T. rex and other eukaryotic species, the maximum heritable mutation rate will be set at fewer than 1,000 new heritable genetic mutations per organism.

         Fewer than 10⁴⁰ eukaryote organisms with fewer than 10³ heritable mutations per organism would generate fewer than 10⁴³ heritable mutations. All genetic mutations within all eukaryotic organisms occurred within this set of fewer than 10⁴³ heritable genetic mutations. This is a fixed set, and every genetic mutation among eukaryotes came from this one set.

         Every lineage has a subset of mutations that came from this one fixed set. Every subset has a greatly reduced potential.

Back To Rex

         A number of genes would have been generated after splitting off from the last common ancestor  including:

                   Acetylcholine receptor subunit epsilon which coded for an enzyme                           that broke down acetylcholine to allow for muscle relaxation. This                            enzyme contained 493 amino acid residuals.7

                   Fibroblast growth factor 23 which coded for an enzyme that laid down           new bone. This enzyme contained 251 amino acid residuals.8

                   Matrix metalloproteinase 20 which coded for an enzyme that hardened           teeth. This  enzyme contained 437 amino acid residuals.9

                   Pepsin which coded for an enzyme that was excreted into the gut and                        broke down proteins into peptides. This enzyme contained 367 amino                       acid residuals.10

         The T. rex had at least four families of enzymes not found in the cells of common ancestry. The enzymes were complex having 493, 251, 437, and 367 amino acid residuals, respectively.

Wrapping It Up

                The number of heritable mutations or tries coming from all eukaryotes is fewer than 1043 heritable mutations or tries. The probability of generating a representative gene coding for a functional cytochrome c enzyme is 2 chances in 1065 mutations or tries.11 The overall probability of generating this representative gene with fewer than 1043 tries is less than 2 chances in 1022 or less than one chance in 5 billion trillion.12

          The question for this third thought experiment was:

                   What is the maximum overall probability of generating one                              representative gene for T. Rex within an unplanned evolution?

                The maximum overall probability is less than one chance in 5 billion trillion.

The Interpretation

         An unplanned evolution providing fewer than 10⁴³ heritable mutations, and thus fewer than 10⁴³ tries, is inadequate for generating one small, representative gene or for coding for the first member of a family of any one of the four enzymes needed by this T. rex.

         The interpretation allows us to answer this further question:

                   Does an unplanned evolution have the potential to generate the genes                       required for the evolution of the Tyrannosaurus rex from the cells of                         common ancestry?

         The conclusion is negative.

         Thus, an unplanned evolution does not have the potential to evolve cells of common ancestry into the Tyrannosaurus rex.

         It follows that an unplanned evolution does not have the potential to generate genes coding for the first member of a multitude of new families of structural proteins and enzymes required not only by this T. rex but also by every eukaryote. The evolution of the first member of a new family of genes requires a planner and a plan. Evolution did not give rise to the planner.

          Just as cytochrome c is a representative enzyme in defining an unplanned evolution, the Tyrannosaurus rex is a representative species among eukaryotes. All eukaryotes that ever existed have together generated fewer than 10⁴³ heritable mutations. Every eukaryotic organism–everything that is not a bacterium or an archaebacterium–came from this one fixed set of mutations.

          The 10⁴³ heritable mutations lack the potential to generate a single gene coding for the representative enzyme, cytochrome c, having only 101 amino acid residuals. If an unplanned evolution does not have the potential to generate a small representative enzyme, it cannot generate the enzymes required for major transitions among eukaryotes. An unplanned Darwinian Evolution has a vast deficit, by many orders of magnitude, of DNA mutations to search sequence space. The evolution of eukaryotes from the cells of common ancestry required an all wise, super-natural planner who had a plan and the potential to carry out the plan.

Endnotes

1. W. Whitman, D. Coleman, and W. Wiebe, “Prokaryotes: The unseen majority,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 95, June 1998.

2. Ibid, Table 7, 6581, and abstract, 6578.

3. <1.7x10³⁰ organisms/year x 4x10⁹ years = <6.8x10³⁹ organisms

4. M. Nachman & S. Crowell, “Estimate of the Mutation Rate per Nucleotide in Humans,” Genetics, 156 (September 2000), 301.

5. M. Lynch, “Rate, molecular spectrum, and consequences of human mutation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, no. 3, (January 19, 2010), 966.

6. Ibid, 964.

7. www.uniprot.org/uniprot/Q04844

8. www.uniprot.org/uniprot/Q96ZV9

9. www.uniprot.org/uniprot/A4UAU7

10. http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P00793

11. H. P. Yockey, “A calculation of the probability of spontaneous biogenesis by information theory.”  J. Theor. Bio., 67 (1977), 387.

            &

J. Reidhaar-Olson and R. Sauer, “Functionally Acceptable Substitutions in Two α-Helical Regions of λ Repressor.” Proteins: Structure, Function, and Genetics, 7 (1990), 315.

12. 2 chances/10⁶⁵ tries x <10⁴³ tries = <2x10^-22 = Less than 1 chance in 5 billion trillion

                                                                                                            Fredric P. Nelson, MD   ©  2019