3 ms·
Clarifying the headline: Every mutation of a single nucleotide of the human genome that could exist likely does in the human population. Just statistically this
by skywhopper 3y ago
Clarifying the headline: Every mutation of a single nucleotide of the human genome that could exist likely does in the human population. Just statistically this is very likely if not certain.
His second line of “but all the beneficial ones haven’t had time to become ubiquitous” reveals a weird misunderstanding of how evolution works. Not all beneficial mutations would necessarily ever become “ubiquitous”. And few if any mutations, especially on the scale of a single nucleotide, could fairly be characterized as objectively and universally “beneficial”. Environment and context is crucial.
Take the example of sickle cell disease, which can be caused by a single nucleotide mutation. It can cause many problems in its sufferers but it can also confer its carrier with resistance to malaria. Whether its a beneficial mutation depends entirely on the environment, from prevalence of malaria to availability of treatment for the various symptoms.
- neeeeees 3y agoTo add, the set of observable mutations (beneficial or not) that occur as a result of a single point mutation is in all likelihood an extremely tiny subset of the set of all observable mutations - even after “deduping” for the observed effect.
- iteygib 3y agoThanks for mentioning this. It is about context. The combination of random mutation + environmental context gets misconstrued as pseudo-intellectual design, or propagates an errant belief in a premiere universal set of genetics. For example, we cannot even truly estimate the number of species of life on the planet, each of them showing their own specific genetic makeups to handle differnt situations, but the tweet only mentions the human genome.