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labadimp t1_j2tck5c wrote

Reply to comment by Heroine4Life in Scientists are reviving proteins from billions of years ago to fight diseases in human cells by Logibenq

Because evolution normally phases things out from the past and there might be an underlying issue that may not seem obvious to us from looking at it, but in practice it didnt/doesnt work or itd still be around. So I was just saying that in a weird way.

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Feriluce t1_j2ti6mx wrote

Evolution doesn't do anything. Evolution is simply what happens over many, many generations when slight variations within a population gives some individuals a slightly better chance to spread their genes. It's not like evolution is some sort of intelligent force that selectively makes small improvements over time and never goes "backwards".

A good example are those weird ancient deer that thought: "You know, this land thing is way overrated", and became whales. If evolution phased out stuff, we wouldn't have aquatic mammals.

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labadimp t1_j2tl6tj wrote

Yes, so evolution gave way to “slight variations” in other proteins that ended up working better….not these old ass proteins or theyd still be around. Does that not make sense?

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Heroine4Life t1_j2tltvp wrote

With the way you are describing things genetic diseases would never be a thing because they would be "phased out".

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Feriluce t1_j2to3dg wrote

I literally know nothing about these exact proteins, but just because something is better at making a microorganisms reproduce billions of years ago doesn't mean it's the best for us today, just it's still good enough not to have given us a reproductive disadvantage. It also doesn't mean it's the best for us as modern humans. We have shittons of defects that might not matter too much in terms of evolution, but is something we definitely would love to get rid of as humans.

Another good example of how the motto of evolution is "good enough" is oxygen. Our cells are literally constantly poisoning and damaging themselves with oxygen in order to produce energy to function, but it works well enough for us to reproduce before we get too fucked up and die.

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It_does_get_in t1_j2w6eqw wrote

I see what you're saying, but look at it this way, sometimes medical researchers find new uses for old drugs, some that were even harmful in certain applications (eg thalidomide), so it's possible an archaic protein could be useful, and not dangerous.

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lethal_moustache t1_j2tgi7c wrote

It is not like oddly folded proteins have never been a problem for mammals, right?

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