7. DNA-2 EPIGENETICS

GOD’S SIGNATURE CREATION IS DNA

It includes ADAPTABILITY to the environment

DR. EARL PARVIN 10-6-19, 9/7/21

INTRODUCTION: DNA is an amazing engineering fete of the Creator [ELOHEIM], and on the first try! He gave His created beings a fully functioning mature body, including trillions of cooperating, interactive cells, organized into numerous organs & systems. Then, He breathed into it the breath of life [G.2.7; 1.30; Job 27.3]. Finally, He included the ability to reproduce itself. This is amazing. But there is more!

          DNA IS TRULY AMAZING. First, there are three languages with which DNA operates simultaneously. Those three languages are: DNA, RNA, & PROTEIN all being directed by the ever present GENE when commanded to express itself. Everything in the body is composed of endless kinds of proteins.

Second, at the same time, hidden away in the DNA programming are instructions for that GENE to also give expression for the development of an organism out of those proteins, it has developed, such as a human body. That body includes trillions of cells. In each cell is a nucleus in which is a complete set of instructions for that entire body to be constructed automatically. That set of instructions is called the Genome. The study of the genome is called Genetics. Be sure to understand that in this DNA are the instructions for every genome [individual] ever to be procreated throughout time from Biblical Adam & Eve. [Note the problem that is for any Adam & Steve?]

Third, there is also built into God’s creation, the ability for Chemical Markers or Tags to be appended to the DNA sequence. Thus allowing for that creation, to respond to environmental conditions, altering Gene Expression without permanently altering the DNA Genome. These alterations can be – but not always inherited characteristics for generations. Dr. Purdom of AiG says, “Your behavior could change how your body expresses its DNA. Then those changes could be passed to your children”. [However, note – these alterations do not make a new KIND. It is not evolution. It is the SAME kind adjusting to its environment.

          NOW that is programming par-excellence. Even man in all his amazing inventions has not come close to that accomplishment. For instance, man in all his supposed brilliance is now having to admit that there is no redundant DNA leftovers. Most of it is INSTRUCTIONS, perhaps 98%, which have not been sequenced or decoded. That is, because their preoccupation with Evolutionary Theory led them blindly to believe it would be a waste of time to decode. Now they are forced to decode and study.

          But now notice, the Creator knew that the environment in which the created would be living could change; therefore, He built into each, the ability to ‘sense’ any changes and potentially within a generation adapt to them. This is not a “survival of the fittest”, by “trial and error” requiring periods of time, but an engineering marvel by an Omniscient Architect.

          It involves building into the DNA, which every cell in the body has in its nucleus, ‘logic mechanisms if you will’ to respond to changing conditions as the Architect designed it. Cellular systems must respond to outside sensory input, noting the change, and self-adjust logically the biological responses [i.e. gene expression] necessary as designed options. This involves very complex pathways using very specific protein molecules and powerful enzymes to gain proper gene expression. Recall, this gene can do many things simultaneously; therefore, it is important in changing one aspect, not to interfere with the other things this gene must still do.

          Although secular geneticists may conclude that cells are generating their own genome, which they hasten to add they do not understand, is in reality an evolutionary dream. It is rather a God designed marvel involving numerous programmed options which requires a logical response to sensory input from the outside world. It is amazing that an organism can integrate by seemingly cognitive logic, proper responses through signal transfer. Trait selection therefore is an internally designed option responding to an external environmental tracking sensor. Darwin was assigning selective capacity or volition to Nature which is tantamount to Magical Arts or Anthropomorphism.

          Let us also note that what an All Knowing God could amazingly program into His creations, man has not been able to program into his Robotic Inventions, via Artificial Intelligence [AI]. The ability to Reason is far more than Logarithms can reproduce from programmed, optional responses of its technician. This is not to deny human genius in making amazing discoveries of God’s built-in devices. It is truly amazing that I can talk into my phone and it can translate my voice into words for instance. This ability is only because God built into His Creations such complexity and simplicity that man could discover and use.

          Consider several illustrations of this phenomenon among many.

          1. Let’s start with a seemingly ‘simple’ one-celled organism, such as the E. coli bacteria. It is has been in the news as a health issue for the Romaine lettuce plant kind. Its name defies its simple one-celled nature: “Escherichia coli”. It is a Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus Escherichia. It is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms.   “It is often harmless and an important part of a ‘normal microbiota of the gut’. It produces vitamin K and prevents the colonization of ‘pathogenic bacteria’ which have a symbiotic relationship” [Wikipedia]. E. coli makes ATP [energy] by ‘resperation’ if oxygen is present or it can switch to ‘fermentation’ if oxygen is not present. E. coli is constantly adapting to its environment by “gene pool swapping” from other bacteria in the colony. [Note again, there is no Evolution to a new KIND].

2. Plant Communication. Jeffrey Tomkins, PhD  [Acts & Facts] details “High-Tech Plant Communication” indicating that “plants can communicate in sophisticated ways”. A weedy plant [Arabidopsis] when wounded can send out a communication by airborne chemicals to its neighbor, warning them of trouble. Receiving such a signal, it can generate several responses. It can grow more roots thus increasing nutrients as defense. It can also produce a chemical ‘malate’ [sourness of citric acid] to attract soil microbes for added defense. Sounds like a wireless system of communication. The plant can also enact an underground system of fungus communication.

          In National Geographic Mag.06/2018 is a “Talking Trees” article. In a Canadian forest soil is a “vast interconnected web of life. A kind of hidden intelligence. An underground symbiotic relationship between Douglas Firs called “mycorrhizae”. Fungi can send stress signals & share resources as climate changes or infestations occur.

3. “Living creatures can have logic networks that regulate precisely targeted self-adjustments to environmental challenges” involving “basic design” and mechanisms in cells that “optimize their genomes in response”. [Dr. Guliuzza, MD, A&F, p.17, 1/2019]. Dr. Araujo, also raises the question, just how the cell’s brain adjusts. His answer, “Proteins form unfathomably complex  networks of chemical reactions that allow cells to communicate & to ”think”---essentially giving the cell cognitive ability, or a brain [p.18]. There is built into some systems, the ability to track environmental changes and modify their genome in response. So microscopic cells have been designed by God to make complicated, logical decisions with amazing precision

4. Organisms are engineered to be able to flex as the environment quickly changes, regulating gene expression. Nelson Cabej describes “epigenetic modification of an organism’s genes modulates its innate capacity to define the stimuli, interpret it & assign meaning, select the response, translate that into the gene’s language, and build the phenotypic result” [p.18, Jan 2018, A&F]. This shows a difference between “externalism of evolutionary change versus God directed built-in engineering.

5. Dr. Guliuzza [ICR-A&F 9/18] illustrates how God’s created animals / birds can tract their environment and generationally change their genome across numerous locations. He notes changes for Brazilian Gekos within 15 years, or lizards from Mexico to Oklahoma could track temperature changes. Atlantic Killifish could respond to environmental changes of polluted habitats by making genetic changes within generations. This phenomenon is characterized as “A design-based model expecting ‘warp speed self-adjustments”, versus ‘gradualism’ [p20].

6. The ability of an organism to respond to its environment starts with its sensors. To Light, Temperature, sun’s position, chemical conditions, humidity, time, predators, food changes etc. Then to assess the signal and determine an appropriate response. Also to pass it on to the offspring. An illustration could be Darwin’s finches. Although the beaks changed with available nuts, they were still finches. Monarch Butterflies make extensive flights, adjusting to the sun’s position and time of day. Cave fish are blind, but the same fish can in light conditions produce eyes.

7. Single-celled amoeba or ‘slime mold’ in food-gathering, send out ‘tendrils’ which thicken when it finds decaying wood. “A mold colony can self-organize and form a network of connections ‘foraging’ between food sources” according to Don DeYoung, [AM, 4-5, 2013, p.42].

8.  Dr. Guliuzza & Phil Gaskill in [A & F magazine], in a series of articles seek to articulate the sensory controlled Engineered adaptability of God’s Creation versus the Evolutionary random selection of characteristics over long periods of time. They liken the God designed adaptability of His Creation, to man’s development of the “Blockchain” computer program. Both operate with the constraints of programming by design for “optimization not survival”. [A & F, pp.17-19,May 2019].

9. Dr. Thomkins notes that God has designed into His creations “,sensors, pathways & control mechanisms in cells designed to  respond to changes in the environment (light, temperature, chemicals)…which modify the genome to allow the creature to adapt”. [AM, p.67,7-8-18]. There is specialized machinery in the cell which can place ‘special tags, ‘methyl groups’ on the DNA molecule or even on the histones around which the DNA is wrapped,  modifying or controlling gene expression. These possible numerous modifications do not change the DNA itself, but can be passed on to other generations.

10. Lizards can change color within weeks to match environment. This flexibity is  called:phenotypicplasticity or Baldwin effect. The lizard can change their melanin to match their environment. This is a genetic kaleidoscope.

The Baldwin effect was a cataclysmic effect that hit Darwinists when it was discovered that some animals did appear to adapt to their environment and pass it on to the next generation, not taking eons of time! They saw this effect as a form of evolution…somehow!

11. Centipede adaptation is divinely engineered, according to Dr. Frank Sherwin of AiG. They are found from bedrooms, forests to deserts & deep caves. They are able to “self-adjust, rapidly, regulated & repeatedly.” They can track their environment & respond.

No conclusion, for this is a “work in progress”, as Epigenetics becomes more obvious and ev ident.

Our research suggests that polymerase theta's main function is to act as a reverse transcriptase," says Dr. Pomerantz. "In healthy cells, the purpose of this molecule may be toward RNA-mediated DNA repair. In unhealthy cells, such as cancer cells, polymerase theta is highly expressed and promotes cancer cell growth and drug resistance. It will be exciting to further understand how polymerase theta's activity on RNA contributes to DNA repair and cancer-cell proliferation."