HGT and epigentics. I suspect more will be found on this.
Syncytin-A and syncytin-B, two fusogenic placenta-specific murine envelope genes of retroviral origin conserved in Muridae
Recently, we and others have identified two human endogenous retroviruses that entered the primate lineage 25–40 million years ago and that encode highly fusogenic retroviral envelope proteins (syncytin-1 and -2), possibly involved in the formation of the placenta syncytiotrophoblast layer generated by trophoblast cell fusion at the materno–fetal interface.
The above is the opening sentence of the Abstract.
The abstract is a summary of points (as of a writing) usually presented in skeletal form. (Source:
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition)
Two important things to consider when reading this abstract are:
- The use of the word “possibly” as in “possibly involved in the formation of the placenta…”
Possibly is an appropriate word in natural science research. To understand how “possibly” is used in this paper, one has to go to the methods, materials, and conclusion(s) in the paper itself.
Interpreters of science will often pair up improbable and impossible. For example, something may be improbable, but not impossible.
For me, personally, the use of the word “possibly” indicates considerable time and effort has been put into this research. I have immediate deep respect for the scientists. The use of “possibly” opens the door to additional avenues of gaining knowledge.
Toward the bottom of the link, there is this information:
“Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. AY849973–AY849976 for the mouse, rat, vole, and hamster syncytin-A, respectively; and AY849977–AY849981 for the mouse, rat, gerbil, vole, and hamster syncytin-B, respectively).”
I point this out because in previous years, I have often referred to GenBank as a valuable source of genetic information open to all.
An “Adam and Eve” example of new “genetic” sources being made available is that current scientists are looking at methods and conclusions in the 1995 research by Francisco J. Ayala by using different areas of focus now possible. Whether or not the conclusions of current studies are valid is not the point. The point is that sources like GenBank have opened up new
possibilities in the study of human origin.
- “that entered the primate lineage 25–40 million years ago.”
It is not my intention to debate this statement. I simply pose common sense questions. "What is the hard data that existed 25-40 million years ago? How was this hard data gathered? What would be contamination factors, if any? What is the corroborating data?
et cetera.