The Significance of ORFan and Taxonomically Restricted Genes | Dr. Paul Nelson

With the advent of automated DNA sequencing in the mid-1990s, biologists were able to look beyond the handful of gene sequences they had previously used to compare species. That new vista revealed a genetic and proteomic universe vastly larger than expected. Design perspectives illuminate many of the anomalies revealed by this larger universe. Design may also help to provide a stable definition of the concept of “homology,” a definition of potential value to evolutionary theory, which currently struggles with circular reasoning where explanations of similarity are concerned. 

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