Genes not randomly scattered, according to a report in New Scientist, 29 November 2003, p9. Genes that code for proteins only make up a small amount of the total genome, i.e. all the DNA, of any living organism. It has been assumed that such genes were randomly scattered throughout non-coding DNA. Biologists at the University of Bath, UK have studied the way genes are placed within chromosomes (long strings of DNA) and found they are organised into a pattern of clusters that seem to relate to how often the genes are activated. The biologists used a database of over 10,000 genes and found genes that are activated often are in regions where the non-coding DNA has lots of C’s and G’s, whereas genes that are less commonly activated are regions with more A’s and T’s. (A, T, G, and C are chemicals that form part of the DNA double helix.) The scientists suggest the reason for this pattern is that DNA regions dominated by G’s and C’s are more flexible and may be more easily accessed by the complicated protein machinery needed to activate genes and copy their information.
Editorial Comment: The reason it was assumed genes would be randomly scattered along the chromosomes is that evolutionary processes of mutations, gene duplication and chromosome re-mixing are all random processes. Here we find another example where evolutionary theory does not explain scientific findings but creation does. These findings are no surprise if the genome was made by an intelligent creator. (Ref. genes, chromosomes, genome)