Molecular Evolution

Christian Schwabe is a maverick among scientists who study

molecular evolution. Most molecular evolutionists appear to agree

unreservedly with the official statement of the National Academy of

Sciences:

...molecular biology validates the already impressive evidence

that all living organisms, from bacteria to humans, are

ultimately descended from common ancestors...Each of the

thousands of genes and proteins provides an independent test of

evolutionary history.

Only a few of the countless possible tests

have been performed, of course. But of the many hundreds that

have been conducted, none has provided evidence contrary to the

concept of evolution. Instead, molecular biology confirms the

idea of common descent in every aspect ( Science and Creationism ,

Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 1984).

Schwabe disagrees--strongly. In his research (at the

Department of Biochemistry, Medical University of South

Carolina), he has found numerous "quirks" which do not fit into

the standard neo-Darwinian picture. In a recent paper, "On the

validity of molecular evolution" ( Trends in Biochemical Sciences ,

11: 280-283, July 1986), Schwabe argues:

Molecular evolution is about to be accepted as a method superior

to paleontology for the discovery of evolutionary relationships.

As a molecular evolutionist I should be elated. Instead it seems

disconcerting that many exceptions exist to the orderly

progression of species as determined by molecular homologies; so

many in fact that I think the exception, the quirks, may carry

the more important message (p. 280).

Schwabe discusses his findings with the amino acid sequences of

relaxin (a hormone of viviparity, sampled from a wide range of

species), and argues that the sequences provide an "obvious

discrepancy" which can only be explained by ad hoc arguments, such

as faster or slower rates of evolution. "Unfortunately," he writes,

"the use of such ad hoc arguments simultaneously eliminates a

paradigm from the roster of hypotheses of science" (p. 280).

Schwabe's paper provoked a response from William Bains (Dept. of

Biochemistry, University of Bath, England), entitled "Evolutionary

paradoxes and natural non-selection" (in Trends in Biochemical

Sciences , 12: 90-91, March 1987). Both papers deserve a careful

reading.

 

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