Biochemistry Week 12

Meiosis, Mitosis, and the Creation of the Universe

Bio-chemistry doesn’t always inspire a complex mix of feelings wavering between primordial wow-ness mixed with wonder at the possibility of some grand orchestrating force that some people call “God” and that I might refer to as a multi-dimensional pantheistic playing field where higher dimensions interface with material reality mysterious and inexplicable ways. In this multi-dimensional mystical reality circus, I sometimes wonder how EXACTLY non-physical entities (Gods, angels, demons) influence material reality, or does science have creation all figured out with the Big Bang theory and quantum physics? The fact that nature seems to have synchronistically worked out both asexual reproduction (mitosis) and sexual reproduction (meiosis) to the effect that babies are given EXACTLY half of the chromosomes of each parent- to me- seems like some kind of small miracle that I have a hard time believing nature- in a strictly material or Darwinian natural evolution sense- just came up with by mere coincidence subject to survival of the fittest. Now I’m no creationist, but who or what inspired the process of mitosis whereby the innate intelligence of a cell causes its nucleus to split, creating two identical nuclei, or the equally small miracle of meiosis whereby an egg or sperm “know” that its chromosomal half is just around the bend in a hopefully suitable mate’s matching parts? If we are biologically dependent on the other sex’s chromosomes to create new life, might we also be emotionally or spiritually interdependent as well? Such musings conjure up images of Tibetan consorts sitting in yab yum- god and goddess dependent on the other to create the universe.

Citric Acid Cycle Animation

The animation we were asked would be more comprehensible if we more extensive chemistry foundation. I felt like I was listening to some quixotic futuristic language, and one that would take me years to learn. The one thing I got out of it is that citric acid cycle helps a cell produce ATP or other molecules out of raw building blocks such as amino acids, fatty acids, and monosaccharides. The other thing I got ouf of it was that I am a chemistry novice. I wish I had more to add.

Do humanity and bacteria share a common ancestor?

At first, I thought, “No way do human beings and bacteria have a common ancestor.” In bacterias’ cells, DNA is not separated from the cytoplasm, whereas in humanity’ DNA, the DNA is located in the cell nucleus. This biological difference seems to point to a lack of relation. However, there is a theory that suggests that all living things on Earth have a common ancestor, and this study has aimed to find the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). The theory suggests that the LUCA is a single cell that existed 3 or 4 billion years ago from which all life as evolved since. The scientific evidence for the common ancestor of humanity and bacteria is that the same exact genetic code is used in humans and bacteria, so that a gene from a human can be place into a bacterium, and the bacterium will make a human protein. This is how insulin is made. Who knew?