Tag: chromosomes

Genome Code Builds the Case for Creation

By Fazale Rana – December 18, 2019

A few days ago, I was doing a bit of Christmas shopping for my grandkids and I happened across some really cool construction kits, designed to teach children engineering principles while encouraging imaginative play. For those of you who still have a kid or two on your Christmas list, here are some of the products that caught my eye:

These building block sets are a far cry from the simple Lego kits I played with as a kid.

As cool as these construction toys may be, they don’t come close to the sophisticated construction kit cells use to build the higher-order structures of chromosomes. This point is powerfully illustrated by the insights of Italian investigator Giorgio Bernardi. Over the course of the last several years, Bernardi’s research teams have uncovered design principles that account for chromosome structure, a set of rules that he refers to as the genome code.1

To appreciate these principles and their theological implications, a little background information is in order. (For those readers familiar with chromosome structure, skip ahead to The Genome Code.)

Chromosomes

DNA and proteins interact to make chromosomes. Each chromosome consists of a single DNA molecule wrapped around a series of globular protein complexes. These complexes repeat to form a supramolecular structure resembling a string of beads. Biochemists refer to the “beads” as nucleosomes.

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Figure 1: Nucleosome Structure. Image credit: Shutterstock

The chain of nucleosomes further coils to form a structure called a solenoid. In turn, the solenoid condenses to form higher-order structures that constitute the chromosome.

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Figure 2: Chromosome Structure Image credit: Shutterstock

Between cell division events (called the interphase of the cell cycle), the chromosome exists in an extended diffuse form that is not readily detectable when viewed with a microscope. Just prior to and during cell division, the chromosome condenses to form its readily recognizable compact structures.

Biologists have discovered that there are two distinct regions—labeled euchromatin and heterochromatin for chromosomes in the diffuse state. Euchromatin is resistant to staining with dyes that help researchers view it with a microscope. On the other hand, heterochromatin stains readily. Biologists believe that heterochromatin is more tightly packed (and, hence, more readily stained) than euchromatin. They have also learned that heterochromatin associates with the nuclear envelope.

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Figure 3: Structure of the Nucleus Showing the Distribution of Euchromatin and Heterochromatin. Image credit: Wikipedia

The Genome Code

Historically, biologists have viewed chromosomes as consisting of compositionally distinct units called isochores. In vertebrate genomes, five isochores exist (L1, L2, H1, H2, and H3). The isochores differ in the composition of guanine- and cytosine-containing deoxyribonucleotides (two of the four building blocks of DNA). The GC composition increases from L1 to H3. Gene density also increases, with the H3 isochore possessing the greatest number of genes. On the other hand, the size of DNA pieces of compositional homogeneity decreases from L1 to H3.

Bernardi and his collaborators have developed evidence that the isochores reflect a fundamental unit of chromosome organization. The H isochores correspond to GC-rich euchromatin (containing most of the genes) and the L isochores correspond to GC-poor heterochromatin (characterized by gene deserts).

Bernardi’s research teams have demonstrated that the two groups of isochores are characterized by different distributions of DNA sequence elements. GC-poor isochores contain a disproportionately high level of oligo A sequences while GC-rich isochores harbor a disproportionately high level of oligo G sequences. These two different types of DNA sequence elements form stiff structures that mold the overall three-dimensional architecture of chromosomes. For example, oligo A sequences introduce curvature to the DNA double helix. This topology allows the double helix to wrap around the protein core that forms nucleosomes. The oligo G sequence elements adopt a topology that weakens binding to the proteins that form the nucleosome core. As Bernardi points out, “There is a fundamental link between DNA structure and chromatin structure, the genomic code.”2

In other words, the genomic code refers to a set of DNA sequence elements that:

  1. Directly encodes and molds chromosome structure (while defining nucleosome binding),
  2. Is pervasive throughout the genome, and
  3. Overlaps the genetic code by constraining sequence composition and gene structure.

Because of the existence of the genomic code, variations in DNA sequence caused by mutations will alter the structure of chromosomes and lead to deleterious effects.

The bottomline: Most of the genomic sequence plays a role in establishing the higher-order structures necessary for chromosome formation.

Genomic Code Challenges the Junk DNA Concept

According to Bernardi, the discovery of the genomic code explains the high levels of noncoding DNA sequences in genomes. Many people view such sequences as vestiges of an evolutionary history. Because of the existence and importance of the genomic code, the vast proportion of noncoding DNA found in vertebrate genomes must be viewed as functionally vital. According to Bernardi:

Ohno, mostly focusing on pseudo-genes, proposed that non-coding DNA was “junk DNA.” Doolittle and Sapienza and Orgel and Crick suggested the idea of “selfish DNA,” mainly involving transposons visualized as molecular parasites rather than having an adaptive function for their hosts. In contrast, the ENCODE project claimed that the majority (~80%) of the genome participated “in at least one biochemical RNA-and/or chromatin-associated event in at least one cell type.”…At first sight, the pervasive involvement of isochores in the formation of chromatin domains and spatial compartments seems to leave little or no room for “junk” or “selfish” DNA.3

The ENCODE Project

Over the last decade or so, ENCODE Project scientists have been seeking to identify the functional DNA sequence elements in the human genome. The most important landmark for the project came in the fall of 2012 when the ENCODE Project reported phase II results. (Currently, ENCODE is in phase IV.) To the surprise of many, the project reported that around 80 percent of the human genome displays biochemical activity—hence, function—with many scientists anticipating that that percentage would increase as phases III and IV moved toward completion.

The ENCODE results have generated quite a bit of controversy, to say the least. Some researchers accept the ENCODE conclusions. Others vehemently argue that the conclusions fly in the face of the evolutionary paradigm and, therefore, can’t be valid. Of course, if the ENCODE Project conclusions are correct, then it becomes a boon for creationists and intelligent design advocates.

One of the most prominent complaints about the ENCODE conclusions relates to the way the consortium determined biochemical function. Critics argue that ENCODE scientists conflated biochemical activity with function. These critics assert that, at most, about ten percent of the human genome is truly functional, with the remainder of the activity reflecting biochemical noise and experimental artifacts.

However, as Bernardi points out, his work (independent of the ENCODE Project) affirms the project’s conclusions. In this case, the so-called junk DNA plays a critical role in molding the structures of chromosomes and must be considered functional.

Function for “Junk DNA”

Bernardi’s work is not the first to recognize pervasive function of noncoding DNA. Other researchers have identified other functional attributes of noncoding DNA. To date, researchers have identified at least five distinct functional roles that noncoding DNA plays in genomes.

  1. Helps in gene regulation
  2. Functions as a mutational buffer
  3. Forms a nucleoskeleton
  4. Serves as an attachment site for mitotic apparatus
  5. Dictates three-dimensional architecture of chromosomes

A New View of Genomes

These types of insights are forcing us to radically rethink our view of the human genome. It appears that genomes are incredibly complex, sophisticated biochemical systems and most of the genes serve useful and necessary functions.

We have come a long way from the early days of the human genome project. Just 15 years ago, many scientists estimated that around 95 percent of the human genome consists of junk. That acknowledgment seemingly provided compelling evidence that humans must be the product of an evolutionary history. Today, the evidence suggests that the more we learn about the structure and function of genomes, the more elegant and sophisticated they appear to be. It is quite possible that most of the human genome is functional.

For creationists and intelligent design proponents, this changing view of the human genome provides reasons to think that it is the handiwork of our Creator. A skeptic might wonder why a Creator would make genomes littered with so much junk. But if a vast proportion of genomes consists of functional sequences, then this challenge no longer carries weight and it becomes more and more reasonable to interpret genomes from within a creation model/intelligent design framework.

What a Christmas gift!

Resources

Junk DNA Regulates Gene Expression

Junk DNA Serves as a Mutational Buffer

Junk DNA Serves a Nucleoskeletal Role

Junk DNA Plays a Role in Cell Division

ENCODE Project

Studies that Affirm the ENCODE Results

Endnotes
  1. Giorgio Bernardi, “The Genomic Code: A Pervasive Encoding/Molding of Chromatin Structures and a Solution of the ‘Non-Coding DNA’ Mystery,” BioEssays 41, no. 12 (November 8, 2019), doi:10.1002/bies.201900106.
  2. Bernardi, “The Genomic Code.”
  3. Bernardi, “The Genomic Code.”

Reprinted with permission by the author

Original article at:

https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design

Satellite DNA: Critical Constituent of Chromosomes

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By Fazale Rana – June 26, 2019

Let me explain.

Recently, I wound up with a disassembled cabinet in the trunk of my car. Neither my wife Amy nor I could figure out where to put the cabinet in our home and we didn’t want to store it in the garage. The cabinet had all its pieces and was practically new. So, I offered it to a few people, but there were no takers. It seemed that nobody wanted to assemble the cabinet.

Getting Rid of the Junk

After driving around with the cabinet pieces in my trunk for a few days, I channeled my inner Marie Kondo. This cabinet wasn’t giving me any joy by taking up valuable space in the trunk. So, I made a quick detour on my way home from the office and donated the cabinet to a charity.

When I told Amy what I had done, she expressed surprise and a little disappointment. If she had known I was going to donate the cabinet, she would have kept it for its glass doors. In other words, if I hadn’t donated the cabinet, it would have eventually wound up in our garage because it has nice glass doors that Amy thinks she could have repurposed.

There is a point to this story: The cabinet was designed for a purpose and, at one time, it served a useful function. But once it was disassembled and put in the trunk of my car, nobody seemed to want it. Disassembling the cabinet transformed it into junk. And since my wife loves to repurpose things, she saw a use for it. She didn’t perceive the cabinet as junk at all.

The moral of my little story also applies to the genomes of eukaryotic organisms. Specifically, is it time that evolutionary scientists view some kinds of DNA not as junk, but rather as purposeful genetic elements?

Junk in the Genome

Many biologists hold the view that a vast proportion of the genomes of other eukaryotic organisms is junk, just like the disassembled cabinet I temporarily stored in my car. They believe that, like the unwanted cabinet, many of the different types of “junk” DNA in genomes originated from DNA sequences that at one time performed useful functions. But these functional DNA sequences became transformed (like the disassembled cabinet) into nonfunctional elements.

Evolutionary biologists consider the existence of “junk” DNA as one of the most potent pieces of evidence for biological evolution. According to this view, junk DNA results when undirected biochemical processes and random chemical and physical events transform a functional DNA segment into a useless molecular artifact. Junk pieces of DNA remain part of an organism’s genome, persisting from generation to generation as a vestige of evolutionary history.

Evolutionary biologists highlight the fact that, in many instances, identical (or nearly identical) segments of junk DNA appear in a wide range of related organisms. Frequently, the identical junk DNA segments reside in corresponding locations in these genomes—and for many biologists, this feature clearly indicates that these organisms shared a common ancestor. Accordingly, the junk DNA segment arose prior to the time that the organisms diverged from their shared evolutionary ancestor and then persisted in the divergent evolutionary lines.

One challenging question these scientists ask is, Why would a Creator purposely introduce nonfunctional, junk DNA at the exact location in the genomes of different, but seemingly related, organisms?

Satellite DNA

Satellite DNA, which consists of nucleotide sequences that repeat over and over again, is one class of junk DNA. This highly repetitive DNA occurs within the centromeres of chromosomes and also in the chromosomal regions adjacent to centromeres (referred to as pericentromeric regions).

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Figure: Chromosome Structure. Image credit: Shutterstock

Biologists have long regarded satellite DNA as junk because it doesn’t encode any useful information. Satellite DNA sequences vary extensively from organism to organism. For evolutionary biologists, this variability is a sure sign that these DNA sequences can’t be functional. Because if they were, natural selection would have prevented the DNA sequences from changing. On top of that, molecular biologists think that satellite DNA’s highly repetitive nature leads to chromosomal instability, which can result in genetic disorders.

A second challenging question is, Why would a Creator intentionally introduce satellite DNA into the genomes of eukaryotic organisms?

What Was Thought to Be Junk Turns Out to Have Purpose

Recently, a team of biologists from the University of Michigan (UM) adopted a different stance regarding the satellite DNA found in pericentromeric regions of chromosomes. In the same way that my wife Amy saw a use for the cabinet doors, the researchers saw potential use for satellite DNA. According to Yukiko Yamashita, the UM research head, “We were not quite convinced by the idea that this is just genomic junk. If we don’t actively need it, and if not having it would give us an advantage, then evolution probably would have gotten rid of it. But that hasn’t happened.”1

With this mindset—refreshingly atypical for most biologists who view satellite DNA as junk—the UM research team designed a series of experiments to determine the function of pericentromeric satellite DNA.2 Typically, when molecular biologists seek to understand the functional role of a region of DNA, they either alter it or splice it out of the genome. But, because the pericentromeric DNA occupies such a large proportion of chromosomes, neither option was available to the research team. Instead, they made use of a protein found in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, called D1. Previous studies demonstrated that this protein binds to satellite DNA.

The researchers disabled the gene that encodes D1 and discovered that fruit fly germ cells died. They observed that without the D1 protein, the germ cells formed micronuclei. These structures reflect chromosomal instability and they form when a chromosome or a chromosomal fragment becomes dislodged from the nucleus.

The team repeated the study, but this time they used a mouse model system. The mouse genome encodes a protein called HMGA1 that is homologous to the D1 protein in fruit flies. When they damaged the gene encoding HMGA1, the mouse cells also died, forming micronuclei.

As it turns out, both D1 and HMGA1 play a crucial role, ensuring that chromosomes remain bundled in the nucleus. These proteins accomplish this feat by binding to the pericentromeric satellite DNA. Both proteins have multiple binding sites and, therefore, can simultaneously bind to several chromosomes at once. The multiple binding interactions collect chromosomes into a bundle to form an association site called a chromocenter.

The researchers aren’t quite sure how chromocenter formation prevents micronuclei formation, but they speculate that these structures must somehow stabilize the nucleus and the chromosomes housed in its interior. They believe that this functional role is universal among eukaryotic organisms because they observed the same effects in fruit flies and mice.

This study teaches us two additional lessons. One, so-called junk DNA may serve a structural role in the cell. Most molecular biologists are quick to overlook this possibility because they are hyper-focused on the informational role (encoding the instructions to make proteins) DNA plays.

Two, just because regions of the genome readily mutate without consequences doesn’t mean these sequences aren’t serving some kind of functional role. In the case of pericentromeric satellite DNA, the sequences vary from organism to organism. Most molecular biologists assume that because the sequences vary, they must not be functionally important. For if they were, natural selection would have prevented them from changing. But this study demonstrates that DNA sequences can vary—particularly if DNA is playing a structural role—as long as they don’t compromise DNA’s structural utility. In the case of pericentromeric DNA, apparently the nucleotide sequence can vary quite a bit without compromising its capacity to bind chromocenter-forming proteins (such as D1 and HMGA1).

Is the Evolutionary Paradigm the Wrong Framework to Study Genomes?

Scientists who view biology through the lens of the evolutionary paradigm are often quick to conclude that the genomes of organisms reflect the outworking of evolutionary history. Their perspective causes them to see the features of genomes, such as satellite DNA, as little more than the remnants of an unguided evolutionary process. Within this framework, there is no reason to think that any particular DNA sequence element harbors function. In fact, many life scientists regard these “evolutionary vestiges” as junk DNA. This clearly was the case for satellite DNA.

Yet, a growing body of data indicates that virtually every category of so-called junk DNA displays function. In fact, based on the available data, a strong case can be made that most sequence elements in genomes possess functional utility. Based on these insights, and the fact that pericentromeric satellite DNA persists in eukaryotic genomes, the team of researchers assumed that it must be functional. It’s a clear departure from the way most biologists think about genomes.

Based on this study (and others like it), I think it is safe to conclude that we really don’t understand the molecular biology of genomes.

It seems to me that we live in the midst of a revolution in our understanding of genome structure and function. Instead of being a wasteland of evolutionary debris, the architecture and operations of genomes appear to be far more elegant and sophisticated than anyone ever imagined—at least within the confines of the evolutionary paradigm.

This insight also leads me to wonder if we have been using the wrong paradigm all along to think about genome structure and function. I contend that viewing biological systems as the Creator’s handiwork provides a superior framework for promoting scientific advance, particularly when the rationale for the structure and function of a particular biological system is not apparent. Also, in addressing the two challenging questions, if biological systems have been created, then there must be good reasons why these systems are structured and function the way they do. And this expectation drives further study of seemingly nonfunctional, purposeless systems with the full anticipation that their functional roles will eventually be uncovered.

Though committed to an evolutionary interpretation of biology, the UM researchers were rewarded with success when they broke ranks with most evolutionary biologists and assumed junk regions of the genome were functional. Their stance illustrates the power of a creation model approach to biology.

Sadly, most evolutionary biologists are like me when it comes to old furniture. We lack vision and are quick to see it as junk, when in fact a treasure lies in front of us. And, if we let it, this treasure will bring us joy.

Resources

Endnotes
  1. University of Michigan, “Scientists Discover a Role for ‘Junk’ DNA,” ScienceDaily (April 11, 2018), www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411131659.htm.
  2. Madhav Jagannathan, Ryan Cummings, and Yukiko M. Yamashita, “A Conserved Function for Pericentromeric Satellite DNA,” eLife 7 (March 26, 2018): e34122, doi:10.7554/eLife.34122.

Reprinted with permission by the author

Original article at:
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design

Yeast Gene Editing Study Raises Questions about the Evolutionary Origin of Human Chromosome 2

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BY FAZALE RANA – SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

As a biochemist and a skeptic of the evolutionary paradigm, people often ask me two interrelated questions:

  1. What do you think are the greatest scientific challenges to the evolutionary paradigm?
  2. How do you respond to all the compelling evidence for biological evolution?

When it comes to the second question, people almost always ask about the genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees. Unexpectedly, new research on gene editing in brewer’s yeast helps answer these questions more definitively than ever.

For many people, the genetic comparisons between the two species convince them that human evolution is true. Presumably, the shared genetic features in the human and chimpanzee genomes reflect the species’ shared evolutionary ancestry.

One high-profile example of these similarities is the structural features human chromosome 2 shares with two chimpanzee chromosomes labeled chromosome 2A and chromosome 2B. When the two chimpanzee chromosomes are placed end to end, they look remarkably like human chromosome 2. Evolutionary biologists interpret this genetic similarity as evidence that human chromosome 2 arose when chromosome 2A and chromosome 2B underwent an end-to-end fusion. They claim that this fusion took place in the human evolutionary lineage at some point after it separated from the lineage that led to chimpanzees and bonobos. Therefore, the similarity in these chromosomes provides strong evidence that humans and chimpanzees share an evolutionary ancestry.

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Figure 1: Human and Chimpanzee Chromosomes Compared

Image credit: Who Was Adam? (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2015), p. 210.

Yet, new work by two separate teams of synthetic biologists from the United States and China, respectively, raises questions about this evolutionary scenario. Working independently, both research teams devised similar gene editing techniques that, in turn, they used to fuse the chromosomes in the yeast species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer’s yeast).1 Their work demonstrates the central role intelligent agency must play in end-on-end chromosome fusion, thereby countering the evolutionary explanation while supporting a creation model interpretation of human chromosome 2.

The Structure of Human Chromosome 2

Chromosomes are large structures visible in the nucleus during the cell division process. These structures consist of DNA combined with proteins to form the chromosome’s highly condensed, hierarchical architecture.

yeast-gene-editing-study-2Figure 2: Chromosome Structure

Image credit: Shutterstock

Each species has a characteristic number of chromosomes that differ in size and shape. For example, humans have 46 chromosomes (23 pairs); chimpanzees and other apes have 48 (24 pairs).

When exposed to certain dyes, chromosomes stain. This staining process produces a pattern of bands along the length of the chromosome that is diagnostic. The bands vary in number, location, thickness, and intensity. And the unique banding profile of each chromosome helps geneticists identify them under a microscope.

In the early 1980s, evolutionary biologists compared the chromosomes of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans for the first time.2 These studies revealed an exceptional degree of similarity between human and chimp chromosomes. When aligned, the human and corresponding chimpanzee chromosomes display near-identical banding patterns, band locations, band size, and band stain intensity. To evolutionary biologists, this resemblance reveals powerful evidence for human and chimpanzee shared ancestry.

The most noticeable difference between human and chimp chromosomes is the quantity: 46 for humans and 48 for chimpanzees. As I pointed out, evolutionary biologists account for this difference by suggesting that two chimp chromosomes (2A and 2B) fused. This fusion event would have reduced the number of chromosome pairs from 24 to 23, and the chromosome number from 48 to 46.

As noted, evidence for this fusion comes from the close similarity of the banding patterns for human chromosome 2 and chimp chromosomes 2A and 2B when the two are oriented end on end. The case for fusion also gains support by the presence of: (1) two centromeres in human chromosome 2, one functional, the other inactive; and (2) an internal telomeresequence within human chromosome 2.3 The location of the two centromeres and internal telomere sequences corresponds to the expected locations if, indeed, human chromosome 2 arose as a fusion event.4

Evidence for Evolution or Creation?

Even though human chromosome 2 looks like it is a fusion product, it seems unlikely to me that its genesis resulted from undirected natural processes. Instead, I would argue that a Creator intervened to create human chromosome 2 because combining chromosomes 2A and 2B end to end to form it would have required a succession of highly improbable events.

I describe the challenges to the evolutionary explanation in some detail in a previous article:

  • End-to-end fusion of two chromosomes at the telomeres faces nearly insurmountable hurdles.
  • And, if somehow the fusion did occur, it would alter the number of chromosomes and lead to one of three possible scenarios: (1) nonviable offspring, (2) viable offspring that suffers from a diseased state, or (3) viable but infertile offspring. Each of these scenarios would prevent the fused chromosome from entering and becoming entrenched in the human gene pool.
  • Finally, if chromosome fusion took place and if the fused chromosome could be passed on to offspring, the event would have had to create such a large evolutionary advantage that it would rapidly sweep through the population, becoming fixed.

This succession of highly unlikely events makes more sense, from my vantage point, if we view the structure of human chromosome 2 as the handiwork of a Creator instead of the outworking of evolutionary processes. But why would these chromosomes appear to be so similar, if they were created? As I discuss elsewhere, I think the similarity between human and chimpanzee chromosomes reflects shared design, not shared evolutionary ancestry. (For more details, see my article “Chromosome 2: The Best Evidence for Evolution?”)

Yeast Chromosome Studies Offer Insight

Recent work by two independent teams of synthetic biologists from the US and China corroborates my critique of the evolutionary explanation for human chromosome 2. Working within the context of the evolutionary framework, both teams were interested in understanding the influence that chromosome number and organization have on an organism’s biology and how chromosome fusion shapes evolutionary history. To pursue this insight, both research groups carried out similar experiments using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to reduce the number of chromosomes in brewer’s yeast from 16 to 1 (for the Chinese team) and from 16 to 2 (for the team from the US) through a succession of fusion events.

Both teams reduced the number of chromosomes in stages by fusing pairs of chromosomes. The first attempt reduced the number from 16 to 8. In the next round they fused pairs of the newly created chromosome to reduce the number from 8 to 4, and so on.

To their surprise, the yeast seemed to tolerate this radical genome editing quite well—although their growth rate slowed and the yeast failed to thrive under certain laboratory conditions. Gene expression was altered in the modified yeast genomes, but only for a few genes. Most of the 5,800 genes in the brewer’s yeast genome were normally expressed, compared to the wild-type strain.

For synthetic biology, this work is a milestone. It currently stands as one of the most radical genome reconfigurations ever achieved. This discovery creates an exciting new research tool to address fundamental questions about chromosome biology. It also may have important applications in biotechnology.

The experiment also ranks as a milestone for the RTB human origins creation model because it helps address questions about the origin of human chromosome 2. Specifically, the work with brewer’s yeast provides empirical evidence that human chromosome 2 must have been shaped by an Intelligent Agent. This research also reinforces my concerns about the capacity of evolutionary mechanisms to generate human chromosome 2 via the fusion of chimpanzee chromosomes 2A and 2B.

Chromosome fusion demonstrates the critical role intelligent agency plays.

Both research teams had to carefully design the gene editing system they used so that it would precisely delete two distinct regions in the chromosomes. This process affected end-on-end chromosome fusions in a way that would allow the yeast cells to survive. Specifically, they had to delete regions of the chromosomes near the telomeres, including the highly repetitive telomere-associated sequences. While they carried out this deletion, they carefully avoided deleting DNA sequences near the telomeres that harbored genes. They also simultaneously deleted one of the centromeres of the fused chromosomes to ensure that the fused chromosome would properly replicate and segregate during cell division. Finally, they had to make sure that when the two chromosomes fused, the remaining centromere was positioned near the center of the resulting chromosome.

In addition to the high-precision gene editing, they had to carefully construct the sequence of donor DNA that accompanied the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing package so that the chromosomes with the deleted telomeres could be directed to fuse end on end. Without the donor DNA, the fusion would have been haphazard.

In other words, to fuse the chromosomes so that the yeast survived, the research teams needed a detailed understanding of chromosome structure and biology and a strategy to use this knowledge to design precise gene editing protocols. Such planning would ensure that chromosome fusion occurred without the loss of key genetic information and without disrupting key processes such as DNA replication and chromosome segregation during cell division. The researchers’ painstaking effort is a far cry from the unguided, undirected, haphazard events that evolutionary biologists think caused the end-on-end chromosome fusion that created human chromosome 2. In fact, given the high-precision gene editing required to create fused chromosomes, it is hard to envision how evolutionary processes could ever produce a functional fused chromosome.

A discovery by both research teams further complicates the evolutionary explanation for the origin of human chromosome 2. Namely, the yeast cells could not replicate unless the centromere of one of the chromosomes was deleted at the time the chromosomes fused. The researchers learned that if this step was omitted, the fused chromosomes weren’t stable. Because centromeres serve as the point of attachment for the mitotic spindle, if a chromosome possesses two centromeres, mistakes occur in the chromosome segregation step during cell division.

It is interesting that human chromosome 2 has two centromeres but one of them has been inactivated. (In the evolutionary scenario, this inactivation would have happened through a series of mutations in the centromeric DNA sequences that accrued over time.) However, if human chromosome 2 resulted from the fusion of two chimpanzee chromosomes, the initial fusion product would have possessed two centromeres, both functional. In the evolutionary scenario, it would have taken millennia for one of the chromosomes to become inactivated. Yet, the yeast studies indicate that centromere loss must take place simultaneously with end-to-end fusion. However, based on the nature of evolutionary mechanisms, it cannot.

Chromosome fusion in yeast leads to a loss of fitness.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable outcomes of this work is the discovery that the yeast cells lived after undergoing that many successive chromosome fusions. In fact, experts in synthetic biology such as Gianni Liti (who commented on this work for Nature), expressed surprise that the yeast survived this radical genome restructuring.5

Though both research teams claimed that the fusion had little effect on the fitness of the yeast, the data suggests otherwise. The yeast cells with the fused chromosomes grew more slowly than wild-type cells and struggled to grow under certain culture conditions. In fact, when the Chinese research team cultured the yeast with the single fused chromosome with the wild-type strain, the wild-type yeast cells out-competed the cells with the fused chromosome.

Although researchers observed changes in gene expression only for a small number of genes, this result appears to be a bit misleading. The genes with changed expression patterns are normally located near telomeres. The activity of these genes is normally turned down low because they usually are needed only under specific growth conditions. But with the removal of telomeres in the fused chromosomes, these genes are no longer properly regulated; in fact, they may be over-expressed. And, as a consequence of chromosome fusion, some genes that normally reside at a distance from telomeres find themselves close to telomeres, leading to reduced activity.

This altered gene expression pattern helps explains the slower growth rate of the yeast strain with fused chromosomes and the yeast cells’ difficulty to grow under certain conditions. The finding also raises more questions about the evolutionary scenario for the origin of human chromosome 2. Based on the yeast studies, it seems reasonable to think that the end-to-end fusion of chromosomes 2A and 2B would have reduced the fitness of the offspring that first inherited the fused chromosome 2, making it less likely that the fusion would have taken hold in the human gene pool.

Chromosome fusion in yeast leads to a loss of fertility.

Normally, yeast cells reproduce asexually. But they can also reproduce sexually. When yeast cells mate, they fuse. As a result of this fusion event, the resulting cell has two sets of chromosomes. In this state, the yeast cells can divide or form spores. In many respects, the sexual reproduction of yeast cels resembles the sexual reproduction in humans, in which egg and sperm cells, each with one set of chromosomes, fuse to form a zygote with two sets of chromosomes.

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Figure 3: Yeast Cell Reproduction

Image credit: Shutterstock

Both research groups discovered that genetically engineered yeast cells with fused chromosomes could mate and form spores, but spore viability was lower than for wild-type yeast.

They also discovered that after the first round of chromosome fusion when the genetically engineered yeast possessed 8 chromosomes, mating normal yeast cells with those harboring fused chromosomes resulted in low fertility. When wild-type yeast cells were mated with yeast strains that had been subjected to additional rounds of chromosome fusion, spore formation failed altogether.

The synthetic biologists find this result encouraging because it means that if they use yeast with fused chromosomes for biotechnology applications, there is little chance that the genetically engineered yeast will mate with wild-type yeast. In other words, the loss of fertility serves as a safeguard.

However, this loss of fertility does not bode well for evolutionary explanations for the origin of human chromosome 2. The yeast studies indicate that chromosome fusion leads to a loss of fertility because of the mismatch in chromosome number, which makes it difficult for chromosomes to align and properly segregate during cell division. So, why wouldn’t this loss of fertility happen if chromosomes 2A and 2B fuse?

yeast-gene-editing-study-4

Figure 4: Cell Division

Image credit: Shutterstock

In short, the theoretical concerns I expressed about the evolutionary origin of human chromosome 2 find experimental support in the yeast studies. And the indisputable role intelligent agency plays in designing and executing the protocols to fuse yeast chromosomes provides empirical evidence that a Creator must have intervened in some capacity to design human chromosome 2.

Of course, there are a number of outstanding questions that remain for a creation model interpretation of human chromosome 2, including:

  • Why would a Creator seemingly fuse together two chromosomes to create human chromosome 2?
  • Why does this chromosome possess internal telomere sequences?
  • Why does human chromosome 2 harbor seemingly nonfunctional centromere sequences?

We predict that as we learn more about the biology of human chromosome 2, we will discover a compelling rationale for the structural features of this chromosome, in a way that befits a Creator.

But, at this juncture the fusion of yeast chromosomes in the lab makes it hard to think that unguided evolutionary processes could ever successfully fuse two chromosomes, including human chromosome 2, end on end. Creation appears to make more sense.

Resources

Endnotes

  1. Jingchuan Luo et al., “Karyotype Engineering by Chromosome Fusion Leads to Reproductive Isolation in Yeast,” Nature 560 (2018): 392–96, doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0374-x; Yangyang Shao et al., “Creating a Functional Single-Chromosome Yeast,” Nature 560 (2018): 331–35, doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0382-x.
  2. Jorge J. Yunis, J. R. Sawyer, and K. Dunham, “The Striking Resemblance of High-Resolution G-Banded Chromosomes of Man and Chimpanzee,” Science 208 (1980): 1145–48, doi:10.1126/science.7375922; Jorge J. Yunis and Om Prakash, “The Origin of Man: A Chromosomal Pictorial Legacy,” Science 215 (1982): 1525–30, doi:10.1126/science.7063861.
  3. The centromere is a region of the DNA molecule near the center of the chromosome that serves as the point of attachment for the mitotic spindle during the cell division process. Telomeres are DNA sequences located at the tip ends of chromosomes designed to stabilize the chromosome and prevent it from undergoing degradation.
  4. J. W. Ijdo et al., “Origin of Human Chromosome 2: An Ancestral Telomere-Telomere Fusion,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 88 (1991): 9051–55, doi:10.1073/pnas.88.20.9051; Rosamaria Avarello et al., “Evidence for an Ancestral Alphoid Domain on the Long Arm of Human Chromosome 2,” Human Genetics 89 (1992): 247–49, doi:10.1007/BF00217134.
  5. Gianni Liti, “Yeast Chromosome Numbers Minimized Using Genome Editing,” Nature 560 (August 1, 2018): 317–18, doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05309-4.
Reprinted with permission by the author
Original article at:
https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design/read/the-cells-design/2018/09/12/yeast-gene-editing-study-raises-questions-about-the-evolutionary-origin-of-human-chromosome-2