Voyage to the Germ Line

  The current evolutionary paradigm comprises two theoretical arenas:  “The Central Dogma” and “The Modern Synthesis”. The Central Dogma is that DNA codes for RNA and RNA codes for proteins in that order, in that direction. It has since been modified to take into account proteins that modify DNA, that reverse the sequence. The Modern Synthesis refers to the conflation of Darwin’s natural selection acting upon random mutations with the ideas of Mendel regarding the realm of genetics. A  key feature of Darwinism that remains fundamental to The Modern Synthesis is that genetic change via mutation is random, always random, forever random,  NOT generated by the needs of an organism as it lives its life. A key assertion of The Modern synthesis is that genetic information is passed from one generation to the next by DNA in the germ line not by somatic cells. Germ line cells are sperm and eggs, somatic cells are all others, including heart, lung, kidney, liver, epithelium, brain etc. If a cell is not a sperm or egg it is a somatic cell. If a mutation is going to cause a change in the DNA of a mammal,  either positive or negative it will happen in the DNA of an egg or sperm - nowhere else. DNA can mutate to high heaven in 10 trillion somatic cells according to The Modern Synthesis and have no effect on future generations.

Given Modern Synthesis dogma, only one-ten millionth of a man’s cells are available to undergo mutation related to possible evolution.  For women, the ratio of somatic cells to germ cells ( eggs) is 1,000 times smaller. A woman produces 400 eggs per lifetime, a man produces 500 billion sperm. A woman’s eggs are exposed to the possibility of mutation for an entire lifetime. A man’s sperm turn over completely every 30 days i.e. 30 days from genesis in the testes to exit of the body.

I am not a creationist but these two currently operational theories demand the suspension of all reason, logic, common sense and intuition. We are supposed to believe that the future of all mammals depends on cosmic rays caroming through millions of cells from the top of the head to the gonads to strike a DNA molecule located in the well protected testicles or ovaries causing a mutation, with only one in ten thousand of these mutations being advantageous at a single genetic trait somewhere within 20,000 human genes. Believers in this catechism will remind us that mutations can also be caused by the stress and strain of cell division as chromatin wrangles itself up into chromatids at every cell division. We are also told that all cells possess chemical machinery that edits mutations out of DNA. The tales of the Holy Bible are more believable. There must be other mechanisms at work than those proposed in this dual Kool Aid combo. The exclusivity of The Central Dogma and The Grand Synthesis is the stuff of myth. These two time-worn theories comprise a paradigm that has generated much science over the past 70 years. The processes these two theories describe are too limited in scope, too slow and neither takes into account coordination between interconnected mechanical, electrical, chemical and quantum systems of organs and processes throughout the body. It is time for re-vision. Why would nature limit evolution to such an infinitesimal portion of the matter at hand?

JB Theory:

1. All ten trillion cells of the human ( mammal, vertebrate) body ( adjust total per species) participate directly in evolution via the transmission of genetic information between themselves ( somatic cells)  and between all other somatic cells and the germline in a network. Animal evolution is not limited to random mutation in eggs and sperm DNA.
2. Rename mutation. The word mutation implies a singular incident and an odd, irregular unfortunate occurrence. The word mutation has overtones of wrongness. Mutants are the stuff of sideshows.  Let’s rename mutation as G-rev (Genetic revision) G-rev might involve DNA or histones or RNA - whatever tags along for the ride that creates a zygote.
3. Reconsider the hardcore dogmatic element of randomness - little heritable DNA change is random.
4. RE: random mutation - mutation is replaced with G-Rev ( Gene revision) and random is replaced with directed. Random mutation becomes directed G-rev.
5. All cells send messages to the germline to be passed to the next generation. Every organ in the body not only communicates with each other’s form and process but all cells of every organ participate directly in productive evolutionary revision i.e. germ cell nuclear material modification.
6. How does it work? Somatic cells send genetic info in the form of cRNA ( Courier RNA: JB neolog)  to the germ line via surrounding tissue fluid collected in capillaries of the lymph system that runs from the brain dura mater lymphatics to the toes and all around each organ on toward the para aortic lymph nodes serving the gonads.  RNA is then sorted and distributed to growing germ cell matrix for insertion into germ stem cell nuclear material or maturing (mature) eggs and sperm: DNA, histones and RNA. This RNA is tagged at each source organ specifying its destination at the appropriate germ cell DNA or other transmissible nuclear material.
7. Sperm and eggs and their progenitors are continually processing new genetic information from all over the body.
8. Over the course of twenty years a person’s skin cells have gone through 200 generations, each involving mitosis, crossing over etc - opportunity for evolution via G-rev. If an animal is able to register these beneficial changes into its genome for 200 generations in 20 years, it has advantages. It is not believable that nature would overlook such opportunity.
9. Revisions to genetic material resulting in phenotypic expression during the lifetime of a single organism is called epigenetic change. To date this change has been considered un-inheritable for the most part because it is a normal function of somatic cell expression in all non-reproductive organs.
10. Epigenetic information is not wasted. It is tested within a cell type for a few generations of that cell line and then forwarded to the germ cells. Neurons and all cells of the central nervous system are a part of this forwarding process for new genetic information. Neurons store epigenetic change ( memory) and forward it via the dura mater lymphatic-glymphatic system. Epigenetic change is stored and intermittently transferred to germline DNA via RNA in a reverse of Crick’s central dogma assertion of exclusivity of direction. This reverse directional effect of RNA on DNA has been seen for past 20 years in prion activity and reverse transcriptase studies.
11. Epigenetic information becomes genetic in an avalanche of edits, updates, revision, change aka G-rev or as tradition has it - “mutation”
12. G-rev is not typically a random occurrence from a UV or gamma ray strike upon a hydrogen or carbon molecule of a nucleotide, nor is it a collection of broken and re-assembled DNA strands. G-rev at the germline ( sperm / eggs) is constant, voluminous and locked into the genome for transmission into following generations.
13. There are 220 types of somatic cells in the human body - they are not sterile as The Modern Synthesis asserts.
14. G-revs are so numerous they appear to be adaptively directed from the somatic cells.
15. Darwin proposed that evolution took place at the level of the organism in its real world environment the result of generations of struggle to survive and reproduce. Contemporary theorists have suggested the gene itself is the operant realm of evolution ( Richard Dawkins) and others ( Stephen Jay Gould) assert that it is the the species upon which natural selection/genetic drift/genetic flow act
16. This is how it works: Step One: nuclear material at somatic cells is epigenetically modified as histones undergo post translational modifications ( methylation, acetylation, citrullination, ubiquitination, SUMOylation, ADP ribosylation, phosphorylation) The cell,  in rapid succession says “try this, no this, now this, OK this one's a keeper”  The cell uses this change for a few hundred or a few thousand cell replications of epigenetic inheritance within the tissues of an organ to test it before sending info via RNA through the lymph system to gonads where oogenesis(egg making and spermatogenesis (sperm making) are underway prior to for further editing and insertion as new G-rev base pair sequence at DNA in Sperm or eggs. Descent with modification at 10 trillion somatic cells followed by descent across organism for trials of offspring against all comers for food, sex, survival.
17. There is no such thing as non-coding DNA. all DNA at chromosomes participates in sorting, editing and storing somatic cell information prior to conversion into a protein signaling gene.

Our society has a germline seen as movies, novels, art museums,  television, newspapers, magazines, scientific journals, professional sports teams and textbooks. There is intense competition to participate in these avenues of influence. We struggle and conspire to contribute as if we would evaporate unseen into the cosmic ether if our paintings didn’t find a New York gallery or if our screenplay is not turned into a feature film or our scientific paper is rejected by the prestigious journal or if we don’t make the starting line-up on the soccer team. The cultural germline has intensely policed channels. We are trained to believe that getting into this germline matters more than it does. Each life matters as much as the next and all lives send an enormous amount of information into following generations in countless ways - no major label record deal required.

Every person (cell) in the body ( society) signifies and each sends vital information to the next generation by individual, thought, behavior, action, and  mood throughout life. It is the way of the world that each of the carbon units ( us)  plays a role in determining what gets transmitted, what lives and what dies.  Private thought and action is sorted and finds its way to local, state and national influencers,  germline politicians, cultural gatekeepers at school board meetings, elections,  publishing houses and art museums. We vote with our bodies as we drink the fresh water piped in from the water treatment plant, use the sewer system and shop at the supermarket. We vote with our bodies and our pocketbooks as we drive process and product to prominence or decay. We have a choice to litter or not, to smile at the cashier or not. Individual action born of individual thought and feeling  gets collected just as information at ten trillion cells gets collected.

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JB Questions-Observations:

1. Perhaps all somatic genetic information is routed via lymph system to the pons first  where it is sorted prior to transport to the germline
2. There are 323 million people living in the USA. where is the germline? How might one get his / her ideas into it for guaranteed transfer of one’s unique contribution into the next generation. What is the American counterpart to the lymph system G-rev pipeline. A movie screen is like a giant penis shooting spermey ideas out into the audience. A college professor is an erection of sorts firing his material into an audience that might contain a receptive mind or two.
3. If a railroad track is a metaphor for a society’s path into the future. Would the crossties be individual people? Would the intense regimentation of RR crossties reflect the sameness of language or an array of ethical beliefs, shared religion, marriage rites etc. Would the unique patterns of wear and tear on each crosstie reflect the scope of our individuality?
4. Bertolt Brecht was the Mother Teresa for the Stalinist incarceration of millions of Soviet citizens. Brecht gave Stalin a free pass from day one until Stalin’s death in 1953. To Brecht, Stalin was a great unifier who defeated the Germans. Brecht chose not to see the millions of Soviet citizens who were interned in the Gulag archipelago.
5. Brecht was the king of agitprop theater ( AGITationPROPaganda). I wonder if he was on Stalin’s payroll throughout his theatrical career? Brecht was the Picasso of 20th century theater with a great influence on Americans Tennessee Williams, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller.
6. Perhaps there has been little need for any organism to ever evolve or evolve from scratch when it can simply incorporate systems from other animals and plants each with its own special gifts. Much biosynthesis ( per Lynn Margulis) Very little new stuff in plants and animals as they evolve.
7. What was the first organism to see, hear, breathe oxygen, touch, smell, use blood to move chemicals through its body?
8. What happens at olfaction? How does a smelly molecule affect neurons to sense a smell?
9. What were the proto-organs for each modern organ?  How were genomes modified to deliver functional units to offspring?
10. Maybe instead of lymph, the network that transports genetic info from somatic cells to germline is entirely invisible and operating in a quantum network.
11. Random mutation playing out via natural selection and genetic drift is crude, too undirected even with hundreds of millions of whole life generations across eons. The picture must be bigger.

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4/2/16    11:02am