Re: Is it sure that DNA can not mutate also because of mental

On 19 nov, 17:56, "Perplexed in Peoria" <jimmene...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
<astroques...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in messagenews:fhoof2$2rs3$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Beyond hereditary mechanism, natural selection, random mutations,
etc., can the (coding and non-coding) DNA possibly also be affected by
our mental, psychological, emotional activity during our life? I there
any evidence? If not, can modern evolutionary biology exclude this for
sure?

Lets break the questions into four parts:
1. Can 'germ-line' DNA sequence - the primary DNA sequence that gets
passed to our children and is important long-term in evolution - be affected?
2. Can the sequence of DNA in, for example, brain cells be affected?
3. Even if the primary sequence is not affected, can there be 'epigenetic'
changes to things like brain-cell DNA?
4. What about 'epigenetic' changes to 'germ-line' DNA?

The answer to #1 is 'almost certainly not'. People have looked for this
kind of thing and have not found it. For all practical purposes, it can
be excluded as a possibility. For something like this to happen, there
would have to be a way for details of our mental, psychological, or
emotional states to find their way to our gonads, and for the 'right'
changes to the DNA there to take place. There is no way for it to
happen in higher animals. Maybe it happens in micro-organisms -
there is some controversial evidence that microbes subject to various
chemical stresses may mutate in such a way as to adaptively respond
to the chemical stress. Look up 'neo-Lamarckian'. But this kind of
thing has never been reported in any animal organism which has anything
approaching a 'mind'.

The answer to #2 is 'very probably not'. People have looked even
harder for this, but again have not found it. At one time it was an
attractive hypothesis that the same mechanism (DNA) which carries
genetic 'information' might also be used for mental 'information' - for
memories and learning and such. But this idea is now all but dead -
memories and learning just don't work that way, and we mostly now
know how they do work.

For #3 and #4, I will have to define 'epigenetic'. Literally, the word
means 'beyond genetic' and in this context I am talking about some
kinds of modifications that are known to take place to DNA without
changing the primary information-bearing sequence of bases. It is
known that a certain class of modifications (adding methyl groups
to cytosine bases is the most common) can be made which doesn't
alter the main message, but, in a sense, adjusts the 'volume' of the
message. A DNA sequence with this kind of modification may have
its frequency of transcription increased or decreased.

Now it is certainly possible that, in brain cells, for example, (#3) there
is some epigenetic modification of the DNA in particular cells, and
that this constitutes a kind of moderately-long-term 'memory' of
past emotional states. I don't know of any evidence that this kind
of thing *does* happen, but it certainly *could* happen. Research
into this kind of thing is only about a decade old.

As for (#4) - emotionally caused epigenetic effects on germ-line cells -
well, maybe it happens. It is known that mice that have suffered from
periods of malnutrition in their youth sometimes pass on some
epigenetic modifications of their DNA to their children. I don't know
whether you would call this 'emotional' or not. But it has been detected
as being passed on for up to four generations. It is not a true 'mutation'
though - the DNA sequence is not changed and after enough generations
without any childhood malnutrition, the effect wears off. It is also
unclear whether the modified epigenetic information can be thought
of as an adaptation or simply as some kind of trauma which is harmful
to the offspring whether they in turn experience malnutrition or not.


there is a mental attitude that can affect evolution of the human
species. It is suicide. When someone suicides, without producing any
offspring, his genetic material cannot pass to any descents. So this
way his has helped human evolution.
It is a little like the Darwin Awards to people that kill themselves
in stupid accidents. Due to this mental behaviour, these persons are
helping humanity to improve a lot. I think they accelerate the rate
of human evolution.
Leopoldo

.

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