Senior Staff Writer Hassan DuRant
To Bob Rose and his colleagues, evolution isn’t just a theory—it’s the basis for their whole career.
“The idea of evolution is seminal to biochemistry,” Rose, professor of biochemistry, said. Rose is currently working with the University, researching the gene that promotes insulin-production in various species.
“We do a lot of comparisons between species, which is very evolution-based.” Rose said.
Rose is currently working on comparing the insulin promoter between humans, rats and mice in order to understand what things are conserved between the species. One of the key differences between these species is that mice have two insulin genes, whereas humans only have one.
“For some reason, the function was important enough to warrant two genes… we see variations like that a lot,” Rose said.
Despite those differences, enough is conserved between the proteins that regulate the genes – and even the genes themselves – that researchers can examine them as an important evolutionarily-preserved function.
According to Paul Wollenzien , professor of biochemistry, the first signs of evolution came at the earliest stages of life. Originally, polymers of RNA, nucleic acids that can code genetic information, self-competed for replication. Next came proteins translated from that primary genetic code, and finally life began to emerge.
Even in modern organisms, there are clues to these early events. For example, there are sequences within ribosomal RNA that are shared between the three domains of life: eukaryotes , prokaryotes and achaea . This means that the sequences were present within the progenitor of these domains–a common ancestor.
“Because we can recognize these universally-conserved sequences, we take that to mean that they were established early on in evolution,” Wollenzien said. Because the sequences were established very early on, it indicates a great importance for the basic functions of life.
Evolution influences the emerging field of biochemistry with something called “Instant Evolution.”
Instant Evolution mimics early conditions by creating completely random assortments of RNA molecules. In laboratory experiments, these RNA molecules are genetically selected for the traits and functions researchers are interested in examining. These special RNA molecules are separated from the rest of the pool and replicated. This process is repeated through many trials, reaffirming the way researchers believe early precursors to organisms originated.
Scientists have used Instant Evolution to isolate RNA molecules that, over the course of experimentation, gained the ability to self-replicate—just as biochemists theorize occurred in the very early stages of the creation life.
“If the age of the earth is around 4.5 billion years old, RNA likely started appearing about four billion years ago. We believe the first organisms began appearing around a half of a billion years later.” The scientific community believes these organisms likely all came from one progenitor – one common ancestor.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, it is a scientific belief that all cellular life forms on earth have a common origin called the universal common ancestor. While it may sound like a far-fetched idea to some, scientists are talking about a very simple organism that likely had the basic cellular functions modern organisms use today. Things like drug development and testing all depend on the idea that we developed from this organism.
Even though Darwin certainly had a lot to do with the concept of evolution and modern biochemistry, the biochemistry department made it clear that Darwin wasn’t the only contributor. The theory, as we know it today, has rightfully evolved from many decades of research.
Though Darwin’s postulates are often unsung, for Wollenzien , the lack of celebration is due to their implicitness.
“We don’t talk about Darwin too often, but his idea of evolution really permeates through virtually everything we do.”