Can you give an example of an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome

Question

This was the question that was asked in that fake video about Richard Dawkins being stumped. I am curious to know what the answer is.

Answer 1

By increase information, I assume you mean new genes.  There are two common types

Gene duplication followed by modification through mutations.  Ex. nylonase in bacteria.

Creation of gene from intergenic sequences.  Ex. http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2008/06/...

Answer 2

Technically, any mutation -- you now have a different gene.

But for an incontrovertible example, I often cite a paper in which yeast developed three new genes for transporting a limiting nutrient.

http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprin...

Answer 3

Very rarely, though not so rare as to be unheard of, a gene will duplicate itself.  That duplicated gene generally does not harm the organism in any way.  There is an increase in information within the genome.  More importantly however, the duplicated gene will mutate differently than the original gene, resulting in a new gene expression (provided the mutation is not detrimental).  An example of this would be in color vision.  Certain species had evolved to see in "color," which means they have genes encoding photosensitive proteins which are sensitive to only a select range of the spectrum.  These genes were duplicated and mutated over a long time.  Some of the mutated duplicated genes were able to be sensitive to light in a different range of the spectrum, allowing them to see different "colors."  This is how our trichromatic vision had evolved.  This was surely an increase in the information in the genome.

Answer 4

The main method is through gene duplication.  It's what it sounds like: during DNA replication, an error occurs, and the same gene gets copied twice.  Alternatively, if a cell is infected with a retrovirus, a gene could get scooped up with viral DNA, packaged into the viral coat, then re-inserted into another cell.

Gene duplication, like its name implies, only duplicates a gene.  It won't create an entirely new gene out of thin air.  What it does do, is provide two copies of a gene, one that can be conserved, and another that can be 'tinkered with' by evolutionary forces.  

Take the retina, for example.  There are cone cells that detect different wavelengths of light using different photoreceptive proteins (photopsins).  There's a photopsin for blue, one for green, and one for red.  When photopsin originated, there was likely only one form.  For the sake of the example, lets say red.  It would have been possible for the red photopsin to mutate into green photopsin, but that would have led to the loss of vision in the red part of the spectrum.  If the gene were to be duplicated, however, evolution could circumvent this.  If the red photopsin were duplicated, then one copy could remain conserved (retaining vision in red), and the other could mutate into green photopsin (and a second duplication event could allow the third copy to mutate into blue photopsin).

The creationist crowd loves to claim that nothing can increase the amount of information in the genome, but it simply isn't true.  Granted, new genes don't just appear out of nowhere - they must be duplicates of existing genes.  A "backup copy" of a gene allows greater leeway in mutation and evolution, though.  When you look at proteins in great detail, you can see common traits, features, and sequences, which make it very obvious that they share common roots, reinforcing the duplication-then-evolution model.

Answer 5

There are several processes that can increase genomic information:

Duplications, amplifications, inversions, deletions, frame shifts, horizontal gene transfer etc.

http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact370/TOC.htm...

http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch062.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br...

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/ab...

Also transposable genetic elements (transposons)

http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact370/transpo...

http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact370/transpo...

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medic...