Is Genomic Similarity Proof for or Against Evolution
Peace be upon you!
What if, one day, the media
released this breaking news:
“For his twentieth term
the president received 99% of the votes
Hence, all the wealth and goodness in
the country; all the excellence, success,
progress, and prosperity
around the clock
is due to his excellency, the President
I don't think it'll take you long
to realize that the chief’s
propaganda machine is lying about
both the percentage and the deduction
This is exactly what the myth
propaganda does by claiming
that the human genome is
99% similar to the chimpanzee's
And, we've shown in the last episode
how this lie was cooked up in
the myth's kitchen in several steps
The episode was shocking to many
Today, dear viewers,
the shock will be even bigger
when we see the deduction
the myth propaganda wants
to reach
based on this false percentage
It's a distinct chapter of contempt for
the human mind by the myth zealots
We will also witness chapters
of the Greatness,
Creativity, and Capability
of the Creator
So, stay tuned...
Let's assume the similarity
is truly 99%
What do you, myth zealots
want people to conclude from this?
Do you want people to conclude that
a human is 99% chimpanzee or ape
as implied by the title of your book
published by the Natural History Museum
in London and the University
of Chicago Press, in the US?
Do you want to delude people
into thinking
that it's a simple matter for your random
mutations and blind natural selection
as all they needed to do was
introduce a mere 1% difference
and thus genome similarity
remained at 99%
And from there, the rest of the processes
followed automatically, in a domino effect
without the need
for an All-Knowing Creator?
Are the proteins produced
by the two genomes 99% similar too?
Are the body systems 99% similar too?
And the mental capabilities and emotions
—that you ascribe to material causes—
of man and chimpanzee are 99% similar?!
Therefore, according to the well-known
pro-evolution journal: "Nature";
when we see that 99% of the genes
of a particular strain of mice
have counterpart genes in humans,
does this mean that humans
are 99% mice?
When the American National Institutes
of Health (NIH) states
that 60% of genes are conserved
between humans and flies;
does this mean
that humans are 60% flies?
When 69% of chromosome X
—specific to females—
is similar to the Chimpanzee's
while only 43% of chromosome Y
—specific to males— is similar;
does that mean women are 1.5 times more related to chimps than men?
For example, if we compare two books,
and find that their words
are 99% similar —without regard
to their syntax and context—
can we say that the two books reach the
same conclusion with a 99% percentage?
If I say, "The dog bit Zaid";
is it the same as saying,
"Zaid bit the dog"?
The words are 100% identical, but
the meaning is completely different
If I tell you, "I eat, drink, rise,
sleep, walk, run, etc."
then I add "don't" to the beginning
so that the two sentences
become 90% similar in words;
will the two sentences also
be 90% similar in meaning?
Is this what you mean
myth zealots?
Otherwise, what do you want people
to deduce from this 99%?
Or perhaps you want to say, "No!
We did not mean that a human
is 99% chimpanzee
What we meant is that the 1% difference
between humans and chimps
is what causes the huge
physical, intellectual
and civilizational differences
between the two species
Likewise, the huge differences
between organisms
are the result of slight differences
in their genomes
Aha!
Ok, our question in this case becomes:
Can this be the result of randomness
and blind natural selection?
Imagine you saw, on a computer
a long poem
that described mankind
in full accurate detail:
His life, body parts,
emotions, and impulses;
a flawless beautifully-rhymed poem
On the same computer
you saw another poem
that described
the chimpanzee in full detail
A rhyming poem as well; but
with a different rhyme and syntax
You also found other poems describing
the mouse, the horse, the whale, etc.
with great similarity
in words between the poems
However, in each poem, the same
word had a different function
—appropriate to its context —
to provide a different meaning
The computer did not display any
unnecessary or ambiguous words
Is this proof that frivolous randomness
generated the poems from each other?
Or is the similarity in wording
with the big difference in meaning
evidence for the poet's mastery,
ability, and artistry?
How about if that poet wrote
millions of beautiful
harmonious poems that
share numerous words?
We'll concede to you, myth zealots
to the greatest extent possible
Let's assume that
the similarity is truly 99%
and that the huge gaps
between humans
and chimps are due only
to this 1% difference
and that randomness
along with blind selection
produced and differentiated
the two species
through that difference of 1%,
then answer us:
How do you explain the difference
between cells in the same body,
when there is no difference
in their genome;
it is neither 1% nor 0.1%?!
Don't middle-school students know
that genome similarity in the cells
of the same body are exactly 100%?
However, is a bone cell
similar to a neuron?
Are brain cells similar to rectal cells?
If the answer is no, then what do you
want people to deduce from this 99%?
And how do you deduce
—from this percentage—
that randomness and blind selection
caused all life forms in this universe;
just as the President's media attributed
all success in the country to him
Ask the myth zealots these questions
and let them wander blindly
in their transgression
We'll see how genome nucleotides
are only the beginning of the story;
while more details of wisdom,
ability, and inimitable design
lie in the translation
of these nucleotides
How do the body cells vary widely
while having the same genome?
How do species vary with all the
similarities in their genomes?
This is one of the most beautiful
and amazing topics
It offers many stories on
the greatness of creation;
a small part of which we'll explore today
Your body consists mainly of proteins
that assemble in different
shapes to form organelles
Each of them has its function
within the cell
A group of cells forms a tissue
A group of tissues forms an organ
A group of organs forms a system;
the digestive system is an example
In this way, the different
body systems are formed
and the sum of these systems
forms the human body
Well, how many proteins are there in
the human body, including antibodies
with their tremendous diversity
which the body produces
to combat invading microbes?
This paper, published in 2018
in "Nature Chemical Biology Journal"
addresses this question and states
that they number in the "billions"
Billions!
This means thousands of millions
of different proteins
These proteins are produced by
expressing the genetic material
(whose similarity across
the different species
is reported on by the myth zealots);
how many genes are expressed
to produce these proteins?
About 20,000 genes
according to the 2018 paper
Incidentally, it came as a shock
when —upon the conclusion of
the Human Genome Project—
it was discovered that the number
of genes was much lower than expected
So, how, can billions of proteins
be produced from
twenty thousand genes only?
I will give you an example
which we'll link to the answer
If you logged on the computer
and saw three files titled:
"The Human Story",
"The Bird Story",
and "The Fish Story".
You opened these files
and saw lines of separate letters
at the beginning of each file
Among them was the following line
The exact same line was
present in all three files
On the first page of
"The Human Story" file
you saw the following
versions of this line
This version is the same as the original
but with the dashes removed
And this version is the same
but with the dashes and some letters
in the middle removed
This version is also
the same as the original
but with the dashes and
different letters removed
Then, you found, under each version
a meaningful sentence
formed by joining the separate letters
in each version
and adding the necessary punctuation
The first sentence was: "We eat small fish
and big fish and birds," humans say
The second: "We eat small
and big birds," humans say
The third: "We eat small fish"
humans say
Three proper meaningful sentences
that apply to humans
And in the following pages
of "The Human Story"
you saw sentences formed
from other lines
Then on the first page of "The Bird Story"
you saw this version of the same line
and below it, the following sentence
formed by joining the separate letters
while adding the necessary punctuation
resulting into the following sentence:
"We eat small fish," birds say
A proper meaningful sentence
that applies to birds
In the first page of "The Fish Story"
you saw this version of the same line
and below it was the sentence:
"We eat small fish," big fish say
By joining the letters and adding correct
punctuation, the meaning applies to fish
You didn't find any meaningless sentences from the same line
For example, you did not find
a meaningless sentence such as:
Now, let us apply
this example to biology
The genome of living organisms
contains genes
that are comprised
of a strand of nucleotides
like the line of letters
we explained
What determines which genes are
expressed in any given body cell?
The answer is the need of this cell
A pancreatic cell, for example
expresses the genes of insulin
An intestinal cell expresses the genes
of the digestive enzymes
A brain cell expresses the genes
of neurotransmitters, and so on
However, all these cells have
the same exact genome
just like the different lines we
read in "The Human Story" example
This is the first reason for the
diversity of cells in the same body
despite the identical genetic material
in each of these cells
Moreover, if you were wounded
for example
dozens of molecules in
your skin cells will be recruited
to the site specific
to the collagen gene to express it
and produce the collagen
protein that heals the wound
Here's another wonder!
Do you remember the genome regions
they described as junk DNA?
One of their tasks
is to bind to molecules
to help produce the collagen
in a miraculous way
This is another reason
for the variation of proteins in cells
They form according to your need
at a specific time
with a specific amount
in the specific cell
At the end, a gene was
read out in a given cell
This copy is called
"messenger RNA" (mRNA)
and it's analogous to the line
of letters in our example
where the "letters" are distributed
over parts 1 through 6
and separated by "dashes"
Here comes the third highly
creative reason for variation:
Some cells remove the "dashes"
and join the "letters"
to form a long meaningful sentence:
"We eat small fish and big fish
and birds," humans say
This sentence represents a specific
protein suitable for a specific cell
In another cell, the "dashes"
and some "letters"
—found here in Part 2— are omitted
and a second mRNA is formed
This mRNA is translated into a protein
that is appropriate for this cell
but not the first one
This protein is analogous to the sentence:
"We eat small and big birds," humans say
In a third cell, the "dashes"
and "letters" in part 5 are omitted
Thus, a third mRNA is formed
and translated into a protein
that is appropriate for this cell
but not the previous two
This protein is analogous to the sentence:
"We eat small fish," humans say
In biology, this process is called:
"Alternative splicing"
That is, cutting and deletion take
place in different parts of the mRNA
You might say, "What determines
where the cutting occurs?"
These dividers, which are copies
of what are known as "introns"
—that the myth disciples deemed useless—
actually have many functions
as published in recent research
One of these functions is determining
the exact location of splicing
This means that nothing
in the cell is wasted
Therefore, through the process
of "Alternative splicing"
the human body can produce
various proteins from a single gene
just like the same line
can produce many sentences
One of the most fascinating examples
are the "Neurexin" proteins
found in the human brain
which are essential
for normal brain development and function
How many of these proteins are there?
"Thousands"
How many genes encode
these thousands of sentences?
That is, how many lines of letters?
The shocking answer is:
three only!
Thousands of proteins are
produced from three genes only!
This is analogous to three lines
producing thousands of correct sentences
This is mainly due to
"alternative splicing"
The proteins produced after
alternative splicing need modifications
This is much the same as adding
punctuation marks in our example
The modifications to proteins are called
Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs)
i.e. modifications after
translating mRNA into proteins
This is the fourth reason for
the diversity of proteins
produced from the genetic material
The same raw protein can be
modified in multiple ways
to produce
different "meaningful sentences"
Why was this modification done here
for example, and not there;
despite the various
sites and possibilities?
A protein like "Titin", for example
consists of more than 34,000 amino acids
The acids may be
represented by these pellets
Why was this modification placed here
and not elsewhere?
We have 34,000 amino acids
Each one can have a number
of different modifications
If the matter was left to
chance and randomness
the size of the observable universe
wouldn't suffice
to produce, repeatedly, the specific
required "Titin" in every muscle cell
Thus, these PTMs produce different
punctuated sentences for us
Each one is right for a specific
cell in a specific organism
Different modifications make
a protein appropriate for the story
of a certain species and not another
These modifications, in the
appropriate sites of the proteins
enable them to assume
the proper specific
"Three-Dimensional Structures"
Here comes the fifth step, which is
assembling these proteins in various ways
to form larger more complex proteins
This assembly takes various forms
depending on the cell, the organism, or
the conditions surrounding this organism
And this is the fifth reason for diversity
Five processes were explained to you
dear viewers
1. Expressing different genes
(to produce proteins)
in different cells of the same organism
2. Expressing different genes
at the suitable time
and in the appropriate quantity depending on
the conditions experienced by the organism
3. The Alternative Splicing process that
produces many sentences from the same line
4. The PTMs that add the proper
punctuation to the sentence
5. Protein folding in different shapes and
structures to make more complex proteins
With these processes and others
it is possible to produce billions
of different proteins
from 20,000 genes only!
Otherwise, we would need billions
of genes to produce billions of proteins
These processes diversify human cells
into thousands of cell types
even though they all have
the exact —100% identical— genome
Through these processes and others
a human is a human;
an ape is an ape;
a chimpanzee is a chimpanzee;
a fly is a fly;
and a rat is a rat
Regardless of how similar
their genomes are:
70%, 80%, or even 90% (plus or minus).
It doesn't matter!
Through these processes
you understand why 80% of proteins
in chimps and humans are different
regardless of how similar
their genomes are;
according to this research
This means only 20% are similar
So, even if the genome difference
was only 1%, so what
given that we already know that
the difference in proteins is 80%
With these processes, the genomes
and their similarity turn out to be
only the beginning of the story
and the ability for diversification,
synthesis, and differentiation
becomes a sign for hearts to submit
and for tongues to glorify;
in those who understand and reason
Don't the leading doctors
and university professors
among the myth zealots
know this?
I learned most of it in biology class
in my freshman year in college
so it's strange that the leading myth
professors don't recall any of this;
as they repeat the 99% similarity
to chimpanzees!
They either cheated on their exams
and obtained their degrees fraudulently
or they were too busy
preaching the myth to update
their decades-old expired information
Or they might be deliberately fooling
people and belittling their minds
When we look at the similarity
percentage among species
at the nucleotides level which
makes up the DNA and mRNA
we find that it isn't 70%, 90%,
or 99%, but 100%
They are all composed of four nitrogenous
bases; similar to four letters
which form words that are translated
into 20 amino acids
From these amino acids, billions of
proteins are produced
According to a shocking recent publication
these proteins form billions of species
That is, thousands of millions of
perfectly integrated varieties
of living species!
Billions; If we add bacteria
with its different species
Billions of species that maintain
the food web and ecological balance
And here is no room for nonsense,
meaningless sentences,
or failed random attempts
Rather, they're all perfectly-designed
"You do not see in the creation
of the Most Merciful any inconsistency."
(Quran Translated Meaning 67:3)
Is this proof of frivolity
and unintentionality
or of mastery and tongue-tying creativity?
Allah says what can be translated as:
"And within the land
are neighboring plots and gardens of
grapevines and crops and palm trees,
[growing] several from a root or
otherwise, watered with the same water..."
Take heed!
"...watered with the same water; but We
make some of them exceed others
in [quality of] fruit Indeed in that are
signs for a people who reason." (QTM 13:4)
For which people?
Again:
for a people who reason
In a previous episode, we saw how some
plants are apparently similar
while their genomes differ greatly;
such as olives and pomegranates
Today we saw identical genomes
with great differences in appearance
Greatness and creativity
for people who reason
If there were no similarity
in genome among organisms
the myth zealots would have said,
"If there were a creator who
willingly created these organisms
why would He make their
genomes completely different
despite the similarity in the
basic processes at the cellular level?
Cells in all species need to
make proteins to divide,
to produce energy, etc.
If there were one creator
wouldn’t He unify them
in these commonly basic components;
as a designer might unify
the basic components
for different devices?"
Yes!
They would have said that
However, they are actually similar
This similarity makes them alike
in their building blocks: the proteins
which allows some of them to feed
on others to complete the circle of life
by integrating the food web and
achieving ecological balance
If the genetic material
and consequently the building blocks
were completely different
in the different species;
they would be toxic to each other
as they don't share common elements
Then, they would have said,
"If there is a creator
why didn't he make them similar
to benefit from each another?"
Glory be to Him, who
unified by due measure
and diversified by due measure!
"And everything with Him
is by due measure." (QTM 13:8)
So, dear viewers, we have
concluded the story of the 99%
promoted by the myth zealots
We learned how they lie about
the number and its interpretation;
how they reinforce the shallowness and
scientific gullibility in people's minds;
and how they blind people
to the amazing
and spectacular facts of this universe
All this is for the sake of the myth.
Then the night addicts come to you saying,
"Molecular genetics is the most
powerful proof of evolution
Case closed! Period!"
They're relying on the fact that
people find it hard to track
their nonsense and verify
what they've hidden
We pray that Allah has granted us
success in revealing, in this episode
an aspect of the greatness in creation
that urges people to contemplate
in response to the Command
of the All-Knowing Creator
Who says what can be translated as,
"Do they not look into the realm
of the heavens and the earth and
everything that Allah has created and
[think] that perhaps their
appointed time has come near?
So, in what statement
hereafter will they believe?" (QTM 7:185)
Peace and Mercy of Allah be upon you