The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

insertions of two retroelements: a LPA3/LINE repeat (5,957 bases) and a SVA-E element (2,571 bases) (Figure 5). When we subtract the insertions of these non-centromeric elements, it gives a length of only 33,080 bases which is a fraction of the size of normal human centromeres that range in length between 250,000 and 5,000,000 bases (Aldrup-Macdonald and Sullivan 2014). However, the most serious problem with the concept of a cryptic centromere is that it is entirely situated inside the protein coding gene ANKRD30BL [Ankyrin Repeat Domain 30B Like] (Tomkins 2017). Interestingly, the alleged cryptic centromere sequence extends across intron and exon regions of the gene with part of it actually coding for amino acids in the resulting protein (Figure 5). This type of ankyrin repeat protein is associated with the plasma membrane in eukaryotic cells and is implicated in the interaction of the cytoskeleton with integral membrane proteins. (Voronin and Kiseleva 2008). The fact that the alleged cryptic centromere is a functional region inside a protein coding gene is at odds with the idea that it is a defunct centromere. Not only are both the alleged fusion and cryptic centromere sites questionable in their sequence as to being evolutionarily derived from their hypothesized precursors, they both represent functional intragenic sequence. Given this fusion-negating scenario, it Tomkins ◀ Interstitial telomeres and chromosome 2 fusion ▶ 2018 ICC 224 Figure 4. Transcription start site data taken from the FANTOM4, FANTOM5, and ENCODE cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE) databases for the genomic coordinates of the alleged 798 base fusion site ( http://fantom.gsc.riken.jp ). Figure 3. UCSC genome browser ( https://genome.ucsc.edu) view of the DDX11L2 gene, its aligned mRNAs, transcription factor binding, and transcriptionally active histone tracks in relation to the alleged fusion site.