Scientists Say They Have Genetic Evidence for Evolution
Feb. 7 -- Researchers say they've scored one more for evolution.
Scientists have presented archaeological evidence, anatomical evidence and now they say they have genetic evidence that demonstrates Charles Darwin was right when he suggested new species arise through a process known as natural selection. Skeptics of the theory, however, remain unconvinced.
A team led by William McGinnis, a biologist at the University of California at San Diego, showed that a single mutation in a particular class of genes known as Hox genes can lead to big changes in the body. These big changes, the researchers say, could have played a significant role in the evolution of some new species.
A Master Switch
Past research has shown that Hox genes act as master switches that turn on and off other genes during embryonic development.The team found that by mutating Hox genes in multi-limbed crustaceans and millipedes they could effectively block the development of limbs in these animals.
This mutation, they say, could have led to the evolution of insects, which have only six legs and emerged suddenly some 400 million years ago, long after crustaceans were on the scene.
"One of the big questions people have for evolution is, How can you get dramatic rearrangements of bodies," said McGinnis. "Up until now there hasn't been much evidence of how this happens."
The study by McGinnis and graduate students Matthew Ronshaugen and Nadine McGinnis appears this week as an early publication in the online version of the journal Nature.
Challengers of evolution say they remain unconvinced.
Seeking Proof
Creationists argue that, rather than evolving naturally, all species were created by God. And proponents of a theory known as Intelligent Design claim that plants and animals are too complex to be formed by evolution and so must have been crafted by some existing intelligence (possibly God or a form of extraterrestrial life).
Both contend the evidence is too thin to support the idea of evolution and the genetic study doesn't dent their skepticism.
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