as someone who studied chemistry quite a bit . . . sometimes more than other times . . . i would say what you are looking at is 'stable' segments, perhaps we could say 'stable configurations' . . . of course we can't attribute any motivations or emotional aspects to these chains of atoms, but we can say that nature seems to make organisms 'want' to preserve and pass on traits . . . those traits that contribute to the 'fitness' (stability? ability to fend for itself? healthiness?) of an organism or a strain of organisms are more likely to endure as the organism (or maybe line of ancestors) procreates and endures through time . . . - b On Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 4:13 PM <genealogy-dna-request@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Send GENEALOGY-DNA mailing list submissions to > genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com > > To subscribe via email send a message with subject subscribe and body > subscribe to genealogy-dna-request@rootsweb.com > > To unsubscribe via email send a message with subject unsubscribe and > body unsubscribe to genealogy-dna-request@rootsweb.com > > You can reach the person managing the list at > genealogy-dna-owner@rootsweb.com > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of GENEALOGY-DNA digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Selfish genes and long-descending relatively intact atDNA regions > (realmac@aol.com) > 2. Re: Selfish genes and long-descending relatively intact atDNA regions > (Lisa Wilcox) > 3. Re: Selfish genes and long-descending relatively intact atDNA regions > (Wjhonson) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2018 23:33:26 +0000 (UTC) > From: <realmac@aol.com> > Subject: [DNA] Re: Selfish genes and long-descending relatively intact > atDNA regions > To: wwjohnston01@yahoo.com, genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <195717872.4941359.1542843206801@mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > This might be the same sort of observation often termed "meiotic drive" in > the genetics literature. (And I prefer not to use terminology that > attributes motives to genes!) Yes, this sort of thing has been observed > many times and at least sometimes seems to be something more than a > statistical oddity. Whether it can be invoked as the "cause" of any > apparently persistent segment that we see in genetic genealogy is > problematic, since we will rarely have a large enough sample to established > statistical significance. > John McCoy(RealMac@aol.com) > In a message dated 11/21/2018 3:23:23 PM Pacific Standard Time, > genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com writes: > > I just listened to the Economist Babbage podcast in which they discussed > ways of dealing with malaria through mosquito genetics. One idea is to take > what has been already found in nature -- what is called a "selfish gene" -- > and have it spread across the malaria-bearing mosquito population (which is > actually 3 different species of mosquito).A selfish gene is one that > somehow aids and abets its own propagation to the next generation. These > have apparently been recognized as a reality in nature for some time.We > have had discussions on this list about autosomal DNA that has persisted > over multiple generations in excess of what the assumption of 50-50 average > recombination would lead us to expect -- but which we have found in the > reality of the descendants of some ancestor much further back than would be > expected by so many descendants sharing the DNA. It is not at all common, > but it is there in some cases.I do not know enough about genetics to say > whether the "selfish gene" observed in nature is connected to what we are > seeing in some cases in the atDNA of descendants of some ancestors. > _______________________________________________Email preferences: > http://bit.ly/rootswebprefUnsubscribe > https://lists.rootsweb.com/postorius/lists/genealogy-dna@rootsweb.comPrivacy > Statement: https://ancstry.me/2JWBOdY Terms and Conditions: > https://ancstry.me/2HDBym9Rootsweb Blog: http://rootsweb.blogRootsWeb is > funded and supported by Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2018 16:01:21 -0800 > From: Lisa Wilcox <occassia@gmail.com> > Subject: [DNA] Re: Selfish genes and long-descending relatively intact > atDNA regions > To: Wesley Johnston <wwjohnston01@yahoo.com>, > genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <99182CFF-B5C1-4873-AC87-0762D251581B@gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > This sounds a bit scrambled. > > 'The Selfish Gene’ < > https://smile.amazon.com/Selfish-Gene-Anniversary-Landmark-Science/dp/0198788606/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542844263&sr=1-1&keywords=the+selfish+gene+by+richard+dawkins> > is a book by Richard Dawkins, considered by many to be the most influential > science book of all time. > > Dawkins postulates that ALL genes are “motivated” to maximize their own > success; that the inherent nature of all genes is selfish. But I don’t > believe this is meant to apply to small bits of code or segments, but to > genomes as a whole. > > > Lisa W > > > > On Nov 21, 2018, at 3:23 PM, Wesley Johnston via GENEALOGY-DNA < > genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> wrote: > > > > I just listened to the Economist Babbage podcast in which they discussed > ways of dealing with malaria through mosquito genetics. One idea is to take > what has been already found in nature -- what is called a "selfish gene" -- > and have it spread across the malaria-bearing mosquito population (which is > actually 3 different species of mosquito). > > A selfish gene is one that somehow aids and abets its own propagation to > the next generation. These have apparently been recognized as a reality in > nature for some time. > > We have had discussions on this list about autosomal DNA that has > persisted over multiple generations in excess of what the assumption of > 50-50 average recombination would lead us to expect -- but which we have > found in the reality of the descendants of some ancestor much further back > than would be expected by so many descendants sharing the DNA. It is not at > all common, but it is there in some cases. > > I do not know enough about genetics to say whether the "selfish gene" > observed in nature is connected to what we are seeing in some cases in the > atDNA of descendants of some ancestors. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Email preferences: http://bit.ly/rootswebpref > > Unsubscribe > https://lists.rootsweb.com/postorius/lists/genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com > > Privacy Statement: https://ancstry.me/2JWBOdY Terms and Conditions: > https://ancstry.me/2HDBym9 > > Rootsweb Blog: http://rootsweb.blog > > RootsWeb is funded and supported by Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb > community > > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2018 00:13:19 +0000 (UTC) > From: Wjhonson <wjhonson@aol.com> > Subject: [DNA] Re: Selfish genes and long-descending relatively intact > atDNA regions > To: wwjohnston01@yahoo.com, genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <1774517100.1084328.1542845599746@mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > I would make your claim stronger, and say that persistent segments are in > fact very common.It's just that you have no expectation of a persistent > segment from any specific ancestor, but you certainly have some from some > ancestors. > I would say every person has some. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Wesley Johnston via GENEALOGY-DNA <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> > To: DNA Genealogy Mailing List <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> > Cc: Wesley Johnston <wwjohnston01@yahoo.com> > Sent: Wed, Nov 21, 2018 3:23 pm > Subject: [DNA] Selfish genes and long-descending relatively intact atDNA > regions > > I just listened to the Economist Babbage podcast in which they discussed > ways of dealing with malaria through mosquito genetics. One idea is to take > what has been already found in nature -- what is called a "selfish gene" -- > and have it spread across the malaria-bearing mosquito population (which is > actually 3 different species of mosquito). > A selfish gene is one that somehow aids and abets its own propagation to > the next generation. These have apparently been recognized as a reality in > nature for some time. > We have had discussions on this list about autosomal DNA that has > persisted over multiple generations in excess of what the assumption of > 50-50 average recombination would lead us to expect -- but which we have > found in the reality of the descendants of some ancestor much further back > than would be expected by so many descendants sharing the DNA. It is not at > all common, but it is there in some cases. > I do not know enough about genetics to say whether the "selfish gene" > observed in nature is connected to what we are seeing in some cases in the > atDNA of descendants of some ancestors. > > _______________________________________________ > Email preferences: http://bit.ly/rootswebpref > Unsubscribe > https://lists.rootsweb.com/postorius/lists/genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com > Privacy Statement: https://ancstry.me/2JWBOdY Terms and Conditions: > https://ancstry.me/2HDBym9 > Rootsweb Blog: http://rootsweb.blog > RootsWeb is funded and supported by Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb > community > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > To contact the %(real_name)s list administrator, send an email to > %(real_name)s-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the GENEALOGY-DNA mailing list -- > genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com, send an email to %(real_name)s@rootsweb.com. > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > %(real_name)s-request@%(host_name)s > with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the > email with no additional text. > > ------------------------------ > > End of GENEALOGY-DNA Digest, Vol 13, Issue 479 > ********************************************** >