Bee orientation gene found, according to ScienceDaily 29 May 2013.
Before bees go out foraging for nectar they need to be able to orient themselves in the landscape and to the sun, and recognise landmarks, including the appearance of the hive. To do this they go on orientation flights close to the hive. Claudia Lutz and Gene Robinson of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA investigated the changes in gene expression that might aid learning during orientation flight.
They found that in just 30 minutes after an orientation flight a gene named Egr was specifically activated in part of the bee’s brain known as ‘mushroom bodies’ – a region known to be involved in learning. This gene is a regulatory gene also known to be involved in learning and the detection of novelty in vertebrates. The gene activation occurred in bees that had not previously been out of the hive, and also in bees that had flown out before, but were placed in a new environment. This indicated the novel environment, not just the activity of flying was the stimulus for the gene being turned on. Researchers confirmed this by getting the bees to exercise, but not fly from the hive. They did this by warming the hive, which induces bees to stand near the entrance beating their wings to provide extra ventilation. This exercise did not activate the Egr gene.
Gene Robinson commented: “This discovery gives us an important lead in figuring out how honey bees are able to navigate so well, with such a tiny brain”. He went on to say: “And finding that it’s Egr, with all that this gene is known to do in vertebrates, provides another demonstration that some of the molecular mechanisms underlying behavioural plasticity are deeply conserved in evolution”.
Editorial Comment: Watch out when the evolutionists use the word “conserved” when talking about genes. “Conserved” genes are often used as evidence for evolution. What they really mean is that they have found the same gene in different living things. However, finding the same gene in two very different types of living things, e.g. insects and vertebrates, simply proves both of them need it. It does not prove they were once the same living thing.
To say a gene is “conserved” is to impose an already held belief in evolutionary theory onto a new discovery. Finding the same genes in different living things really reminds us that each kind of living thing is a unique combination of non-unique parts, and is good evidence that living things were created as separate kinds, just as Genesis tells us.
Evidence News 3 July 2013
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