Human Genome Research

The question:

Have recent advances in human genome research finally proved human evolution? ... J.S.

The reply:

Thanks for your timely question, J.S. Mapping the human genome is probably "the" science discovery of this decade! Let's start with what we would expect to find in the human genome based on what evolutionary biologists understand and teach, then check to see if modern research is actually finding this:

1. Evolution teaches that simple organisms develop into complex according to a strict and well understood order; we would expect that human genomes would be most like primates, primates like similar mammals, that the "family tree" from plants to animals and throughout the animal world would be reflected in a clear genome "road map";

2. Evolution teaches that major races and ethnic groups in different continents have developed over a large number of generations; we would expect to see clear markers on the genomes of different races;

3. Evolution teaches that we are descended from different branches of prechumans that existed 1c3 million years ago in southern Africa; we would expect human genomes to show the effects of this independent evolution of different characteristics, from a large number of different ancestor humans over + 1 million years.

Now let's see what recent research into the human genome has shown:

1. Simple organisms do have simpler genomes, but there are surprising and unexplained findings beyond that, especially among animal genomes. Mammals' genes don't follow the evolutionary "family tree" at all. In fact, scientists have found four distinct groups of mammals, each with distinctive gene patterns, but with completely unexpected animals in a group. If these gene groups reflected a real pattern of evolution, then the European hedgehog and whales would be close evolutionary cousins, but the Madagascar hedgehog is more closely related to manatees and elephants. The tree shrew is genetically linked to human beings far more than to the common shrew, which is part of a family that includes aardvarks and hyraxes. Research findings are not isolated; they contradict evolution throughout the animal kingdom: the common mole and golden mole are supposed by evolution to have common ancestry, but their gene pattern is completely different, one similar to familiar animals such as dog

2. Genomes show no differences due to race. There are some minor differences from individual to individual, but every human being shares at least 99.9% of the same genome coding, and while there is a tiny bit of variety from person to person, racial groups are invisible as far as genes go. "Race" is therefore not even a genetic concept, but a social one.

3. A few years ago, the discovery of "mitochondrial Eve" showed that the ancestry of every woman alive today c regardless of her race or location c could be traced back to one solitary woman who lived in Africa. In the last few weeks, scientists have found strong evidence from the male chromosome that all men alive today are descended from a single man, "Ycchromosome Adam", also from Africa.

So, genome research is telling us that mammal genes bear almost A Ano relation to the accepted path of evolution; that racial and ethnic differences are so new and/or noncgenetic that we can find A Ano trace of them in the genome; and that we are "not descended" from a number of different branches of prechumans that lived millions of years ago.

What do we make of this genome research? Well, one conclusion that fits the research is that God created a single male and female human being just a few thousand years ago, and that all races, all peoples alive today are descended from these two (as told in the bible, in Genesis.)

Some historians have been quick to point out a problem with this conclusion: this "Ycchromosome Adam" lived thousands of years after the "mitochondrial Eve."

Just a minute, though! According to Genesis, our single most recent male ancestor is A Anot Adam. All people alive today are descended on their male side A Afrom Noah. In Genesis, Noah and his three sons were the only males who survived the terrible flood that occurred during the Stone Age and resulted in numerous extinctions.

Ah! you may be saying c then surely we are all descended from Noah's wife on the female side? Not so c Noah and his three sons were each accompanied by their wives on the ark, so four unrelated females gave birth to the descendants who eventually repopulated the earth.

Our most recent female ancestor, according to Genesis, is indeed Eve. Noah, our single closest male ancestor, lived many years after Eve, our single female ancestor, and in fact, this is the exact finding of today's genome research!

In a world where so many people are taught of a multi-million year descent from apes, these findings are truly astounding. We truly are all brothers and sisters, descended from a single mother and a single father, who lived thousands, not millions, of years ago.

Dr. Science

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