All Humans Are Mutants, Say Scientists

Hugh Pickens writes "In 1935, JBS Haldane, one of the founders of modern genetics, studied a group of men with the blood disease hemophilia and speculated that there would be about 150 new mutations in each human being. Now BBC reports that scientists have used next generation sequencing technology to produce a far more direct and reliable estimate of the number of mutations by looking at thousands of genes belonging to two Chinese men who are distantly related, having shared a common ancestor who was born in 1805. To establish the rate of mutation, the team examined an area of the Y chromosome which is unique because, apart from rare mutations, the Y chromosome is passed unchanged from father to son so mutations accumulate slowly over the generations. Despite many generations of separation, researchers found only 12 differences among all the DNA letters examined. The two Y chromosomes were still identical at 10,149,073 of the 10,149,085 letters examined."

Comments

Well that's all very interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

...but how do you account for the dramatically higher rates of "mutantism" amongst the population subset "trailer park residents", or the subset that has dead cars parked on the front "lawn"?

Ammo for the ID nutjobs?

[vigmeister]

Ummm.. First off, aren't these 'mutations' coupled with the principle of survival of the fittest what leads to evolution? (Not a rhetorical question - simply curious)

Secondly, I am not willing to do the calculations necessary (they are definitely NOT back of the envelope), but can any biologist tell me if this rate is slow enough for the ID crowd to use this as ammunition to forward their propaganda? Just want to brace myself :)

The analysis should be done by race and ethnicity

[Anonymous Coward]

This analysis of genetic variation should be done by race and ethnicity. We know that Africans differ much more from Europeans and Japanese than the latter differ from each other. In other words, the genetic distance between Europeans and Japanese is much less than the genetic distance between Africans and other racial groups.

Even small genetic differences can have profound effects on appearance -- and intelligence. Consider the case of bonobos -- a sub-species of chimpanzee. The genetic difference between bonobos and Africans is a mere 2 percent. Yet this 2% means that Africans have the intellect ability to speak, to join gangs, to rape, and to kill -- at will and with considerable forethought (i. e., with the intent qualifying for the 1st-degree murder charge defined by laws of most Western nations )

Although Africans are much smarter than chimpanzees (due to evolution), Europeans and Japanese are smarter than Africans. The IQ of the typical European or Japanese is about 20 points greater than the IQ of the typical African.

Re:Yay! Mutant Super Powers!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's actually quite a powerful skill used to promote socialism worldwide. Without that trait, we'd actually have people who want to work for a living and afford their own health care.