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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

phosducin, gene duplication, Gbg, Susumu Ohno

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Abstract

The theory of evolution by natural selection is arguably the most important scientific theory ever formulated. Its importance has not been manifest in an “ooh, ah” technological way—it doesn’t empower us to fly airplanes or to illuminate streets at night—but no scientist really thinks technology is the sine qua non of science anyway. The really big theories are the ones that change our thinking, rather than the way we get around or see at night. The theory of evolution changed the way we think about life itself. Interestingly, our acceptance of evolution is based mainly on its elegance. As far as evidence goes, it is circumstantial—although available by the truckload. The challenge of finding more direct evidence is multifaceted. Until the 1944 discovery that DNA was responsible for heredity, no one knew where to look for more direct evidence. There is also a problem inherent to archeology in general, but amplified in the case of molecular archeology. Namely, how do we show what happened in the past given only random shards existing in the present? Finally, there are some rather difficult scientific questions: when species B evolves from A, what exactly changes in the process? Does it make different proteins that cause a corresponding morphological or behavioral difference? Or are the differences in sequence insubstantial, while the important differences are in the regulation of the cognate proteins (i.e. when they are produced and degraded)? Solving these issues and finding molecular evidence of evolution is left as the Sysiphean (1) task for modern evolutionists.

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