Re: OT: Dynamic DNA structures and the formation of memory

On 6/05/2024 8:00 am, John Larkin wrote:

On Sun, 05 May 2024 05:36:06 GMT, Jan Panteltje
<pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:
 

Dynamic DNA structures and the formation of memory
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240501125755.htm
Summary:
An international collaborative research team has discovered that G-quadraplex DNA
(G4-DNA) accumulates in neurons and dynamically controls the activation and
repression of genes underlying long-term memory formation.
>
>
>
I have always though that memory could be stored as DNA sequenxes...

 More likely RNA or some other protein.
 The oft-mocked Lamarckian concept, of genetic learning (not just
natural selection) is probably real, and some reverse transcription
does happen, namely that DNA is edited within the life of one
organism.

Only an idiot could think that. The DNA that ends up in eggs and sperm gets there very early, and isn't in a position to benefit from the life experience of the potential parent.

But remembering where you left your glasses is probably
handled at a lower level than editing your chromosones.

Chromosome editing by methylation (which we do know about) and the vaguely specified "structural changes" that Jan Panteltje's waffle invokes isn't going to edit the chromosomes you pass on to the next generation.

We do have short-term memory too. We don't want to junk up our
chromosomes remembering every grocery list.

What we want doesn't come into evolution. It's a process of putting changes into a our genome at random, and selecting out the changes that don't work. The only "want" involved is the desire to stay alive and have off-spring.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney