Many Christian apologists reject the notion that modern man has any genetic
connection with the ancient hominids, such as Homo erectus. This is
normally done based upon theological considerations in which they believe
that modern man was created within the past 60-200,000 years ago. If the
theological considerations are correct, then genetic data should show a
genetic bottleneck, it should show no human genes which require longer than
60-200,000 years of coalescence time (the time for mutations to create the
present observed diversity in modern populations) and we should have no
non-functional retroviral insertions in common with the Old World Monkeys
and chimps. Modern observations falsify all these apologetical
expectations. Below are some quotes from two articles which examine the
genetics of primates. Each quote is relevant to the predictions made by
apologists noted above.
"The most recent common ancestor of the [beta]-globin gene tree is a
sequence found only in Africa and estimated to have arisen ~800,000 years
ago. There is no evidence for an exponential expansion out of a
bottlenecked founding population, and an effective population size of
~10,000 has been maintained. Modest differences in levels of [beta]-globin
diversity between Africa and Asia are better explained by greater African
effective population size than by greater time depth. There may have been a
reduction of Asian effective population size in recent evolutionary
history. Characteristically Asian ancestry is estimated to be older than
200,000 years, suggesting that the ancestral hominid population at this
time was widely dispersed across Africa and Asia. Patterns of [beta]-globin
diversity suggest extensive worldwide late Pleistocene gene flow and are
not easily reconciled with a unidirectional migration out of Africa 100,000
years ago and total replacement of archaic populations in Asia." Rosalind
M. Harding et al, "Archaic African and Asian Lineages in the Genetic
Ancestry of Modern Humans," Am. Journal of Human Genetics,
60(1997):772-789, p. 772
**
"The expected TMRCA[time most recent common ancestor-grm] and also the ages
of the mutations were estimated for each population as well as for the
world data set. Estimating the TMRCA of the world data set gave a value of
750,000 years with a 95% confidence interval of 400,000-1,300,000,
encompassing all of the TMRCA values from individual populations." Rosalind
M. Harding et al, "Archaic African and Asian Lineages in the Genetic
Ancestry of Modern Humans," Am. Journal of Human Genetics,
60(1997):772-789, p. 778
**
time to most recent common ancestor
(Thousands of years)
Population-> CAR GAM KEN MON NCN SUM PNG VAN UK WORLD
TMRCA 470 840 830 1100 880 840 770 900 720 770
Car-Central Africa--Gambian
GAM West Africa
KEN NE Africa
VAN Vanuatu
NCN Pacific NW of United States
UK England
PNG Papua New Guinea
SUM Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia
MON Mongolia
Rosalind M. Harding et al, "Archaic African and Asian Lineages in the
Genetic Ancestry of Modern Humans," Am. Journal of Human Genetics,
60(1997):772-789, p. 779
**
"Most of the findings of this population genetic analysis of nonfunctional
[beta]-globin diversity are concordant with those of other studies. In one
respect they differ, by suggesting that modern human populations carry old
Asian diversity. Not unexpectedly, the estimated TMRCA of the [beta]-globin
gene tree is ~800,000 years and the level of [beta]-globin diversity
maintained over the last 800,000 years indicates Ne of ~10,000. The
ancestral sequence for the total sample was found only in Africa. There is
no evidence for an exponential expansion out of a bottlenecked founding
population 200,000 eyars ago." Rosalind M. Harding et al, "Archaic African
and Asian Lineages in the Genetic Ancestry of Modern Humans," Am. Journal
of Human Genetics, 60(1997):772-789, p.779-780
**
TMRCA thousands of years
Chimp-human split
5 myr 4 Myr 7 Myr
Ne=5000 480 340 410
Ne=10000 690 580 770
Ne=50,000 1200 1000 1500
Rosalind M. Harding et al, "Archaic African and Asian Lineages in the
Genetic Ancestry of Modern Humans," Am. Journal of Human Genetics,
60(1997):772-789, p. 781
**
"Our conclusions from this study of allelic [beta]-globin sequences are
that there has been substantial multidirectional global gene flow within
the last 100,000 years and that modern humans have both African and Asian
ancestry dating to >200,000 years ago. We infer an earlier evolution and
dispersal out of Africa by the ancestors of modern humans than indicated by
some interpretations of the fossil data and, therefore, inclusion in the
ancestral gene pool of non-African population groups identified
morphologically as archaic or pre-sapiens." Rosalind M. Harding et al,
"Archaic African and Asian Lineages in the Genetic Ancestry of Modern
Humans," Am. Journal of Human Genetics, 60(1997):772-789, p. 782
**
"The genomes of modern humans are riddled with thousands of endogenous
retroviruses (HERVs), the proviral remnants of ancient viral infections of
the primate lineage. Most HERVs [Human endogenous retrovirus's--GRM] are
nonfunctional, selectively neutral loci." Welkin E. Johnson and Jon M.
Coffin, "Constructing Primate Phylogenies from Ancient Retrovirus
Sequences," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 96(1999):10254-10260, p. 10255
"Endogenous retrovirus loci provide no less than three sources of
phylogenetic signal, which can be used in complementary fashion to obtain
much more information than simple distance estimates of homologous
sequences. First, the distribution of provirus-containing loci among taxa
dates the insertion. Given the size of vertebrate genomes (>1 x 10^9) bp)
and the random nature of retroviral integration, multiple integrations (and
subsequent fixation) of ERV loci at precisely the same location are highly
unlikely. Therefore, an ERV locus shared by two or more species is
descended from a single integration event and is proof that the species
share a common ancestor into whose germ line the original integration took
place." Welkin E. Johnson and Jon M. Coffin, "Constructing Primate
Phylogenies from Ancient Retrovirus Sequences," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.,
USA, 96(1999):10254-10260, p. 10255
**
"Second, as with other sequence-based phylogenetic analyses mutations in a
provirus that have accumulated since the divergence of the species provide
an estimate of the genetic distance between the species. Because, for any
given provirus it is highly unlikely that there will be selection for or
against any specific seuqence, it is safe to assume that the rate of
accumulation of mutations approximates the rate of their occurrence, with
appropriate corrections for reversion. Analysis of closely related
proviruses integrated at different sites should also reveal regional
differences in mutation rates.
"Third, sequence divergence between the LTRs at the ends of a given
provirus provides an important and unique source of phylogenetic
information. The LTRs are created during reverse transcription to
regenerate cis-acting elements required for integration and transcription.
Because the mechanism of reverse transcrition, the two LTRs must be
identical at the time of integration, even if they differed in the
precursor provirus. Over time, they will diverge in sequence because of
substitutions, insertions, and deletions acquired during cellular DNA
replication." Welkin E. Johnson and Jon M. Coffin, "Constructing Primate
Phylogenies from Ancient Retrovirus Sequences," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.,
USA, 96(1999):10254-10260, p. 10255
**
Integration time estimates
Locus Age of mutation Last common ancestor
Old world Monkeys/apes
HERV-D(C4) 36.8 Myr 31 Myr
HERV-K(HML6.17) 32.3 Myr 31 Myr
RTVL-1a 44.8 Myr 31 Myr
HERV-K18 5.7 Myr 4.5 Myr
RTVL-Ha 6.7 Myr 4.5 Myr
Welkin E. Johnson and Jon M. Coffin, "Constructing Primate Phylogenies from
Ancient Retrovirus Sequences," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA,
96(1999):10254-10260, p. 10259
**
"The genetic distance between the 5' and 3' LTRs of an ERV reflects
mutations accumulated since the time of integration and should therefore be
proportional to the age of the provirus. HERV-KC4, HERV-KHML6.17, and
RTVL-1a are found in both OWMs and hominoids, which are estimated to have
last shared a common ancestor over 31 million years ago. By contrast,
HERV-K18, RTVL-Ha, and RTVL-Hb are found only in humans, chimpanzees, and
gorillas, which are thought to have diverged around 5 million years ago."
Welkin E. Johnson and Jon M. Coffin, "Constructing Primate Phylogenies from
Ancient Retrovirus Sequences," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA,
96(1999):10254-10260, p. 10259
**
The above data absolutely falsifies the idea that humanity had no genetic
relationship to Homo erectus and the more ancient primates. Like it or not,
we Christians need to deal with this data.
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
Lots of information on creation/evolution
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