ferent higher-level taxa and even within a species (e.g., Drosophila melanogaster), and thus evolutionists consider centromeres to evolve rapidly despite their essential functions (Dudka and Lampson 2022; Henikoff et al. 2001). This is a paradox within the evolutionary worldview, as functional elements are usually believed to be conserved. Centromere drive occurs in females, where meiosis is an asymmetric process. During female meiosis there are two cell divisions, yet only one egg is produced. The other products are called polar bodies and do not contribute to the next generation. In centromere drive, one chromosome in the heterozygote is preferentially transmitted to the egg. The best-studied experimental model systems are monkey flowers and mice (Dudka and Lampson 2022). Centromere repeat expansions influence the recruitment of more kinetochore proteins, which assemble on the centromere and are involved in microtubule attachment. This can affect which side of the metaphase plate a chromosome ends up on. Additionally, in the mouse, the recruitment of destabilizing factors can allow the homologous chromosomes to flip which side they are on. The strength of the drive can vary depending on genetic background (Clark and Akera 2021; Dudka and Lampson 2022). The current centromere drive hypothesis predicts that fitness costs will elicit a genome response to select for a suppressor. Fitness costs are known in monkeyflowers (reduced seed and pollen production in homozygotes for the favored chromosome), but not in mice. There has been work to identify suppressors, but there is still much to be learned about the fascinating intricacies of centromere drive (Dudka and Lampson 2022). While TRD in females often exploits the asymmetry of meiosis, TRD in males tends to be the result of post-meiotic mechanisms. The bestknown examples are segregation distorter in Drosophila and t-driver in mice. They operate while sperm cells are connected by syncytial bridges and some gene products are shared. The TRD mechanisms are often classified as either target-killer or poison antidote drive systems, depending on the specifics. The driven alleles can significantly affect fertility in male heterozygotes, and in some cases are lethal in the homozygote. Interestingly, however, mice carrying the t-haplotype seem more prone to migrate and female carriers have a lower activity level and longer lifespan (Arora and Dumont 2022; Kruger and Mueller 2021). Yeast also undergo symmetric meiosis, and similar TRD mechanisms have been identified in ascomycetes (Lohmar et al. 2022; Nuckolls et al. 2022, Zanders and Johannesson 2021). The details of these various forms of TRD are numerous and nuanced. At this point it is evident that we have much yet to learn so we can properly interpret what is going on. While some examples include adverse outcomes (low fertility; lethal in homozygotes), others do not. We need to be looking for design and purpose as we investigate to better understand what is going on. CONCLUSION The biblical history provides a robust foundation for understanding the world around us. The CRS eKINDS project has used the history presented in the Bible, molecular data, and scientific literature to better understand the biological realm of our world. Not only are many observations easier to explain within a biblical worldview, but it has allowed for testable predictions to be made. One of the eKINDS predictions was that mutations (changes in the DNA sequence) are not random with respect to fitness in eukaryotes; this prediction was recently confirmed in a detailed genetic investigation of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A second prediction is that mechanisms that bias allele transmission, and thus mimic patterns expected from natural selection, will be shown to be important in fixing adaptive mutations. The implications are that the naturalistic mechanisms we have been taught in biology (random mutation and natural selection) cannot explain what we observe. Designed mechanisms are essential for adaptive mutations to appear, and designed mechanisms are necessary for them to spread in the population in a timely fashion so God’s purpose of the earth being inhabited can be realized (Isaiah 45:18). This means everything about useful genetic changes that advance adaptation and agriculture point to our Wise Creator who designed life in a way so that it could reproduce and fill the earth (Genesis 1). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to express our thanks to all who have donated, both financially and in prayer, to the CRS eKINDS project. You have helped make this work possible. Soli Deo Gloria. REFERENCES Ahlquist, J. and J. Lightner. 2018. Paradise Kingfishers (Tanysiptera spp.), the Founder Effect, and Creation Research. Creation Research Society Quarterly 55, no. 1:4-23. Ahlquist, J. and J.K. Lightner. 2019. Strategies for More Clearly Delineating, Characterizing, and Inferring the Natural History of Baramins I: Establishing Baraminic Status, with Application to the Order Galliformes (Class: Aves). Creation Research Society Quarterly 56, no. 2:97-104. Ahlquist, J. and J.K. Lightner. 2020. Strategies for More Clearly Delineating, Characterizing, and Inferring the Natural History of Baramins II: Evaluating Diversity, with Application to the Order Galliformes (Class: Aves) Creation Research Society Quarterly 57, no. 1:45-56. Ahlquist, J. and J.K. Lightner. 2021. Strategies for More Clearly Delineating, Characterizing, and Inferring the Natural History of Baramins III: evaluating relationships and proposing post-Flood dispersal, with Application to the Order Galliformes (Class: Aves). Creation Research Society Quarterly 58, no. 2:113-128. Anonymous. 2016. eKINDS Examination of Kinds In Natural Diversification and Speciation, Creation Research Society Quarterly 52, no. 4:274. Arora U.P. and B.L. Dumont. 2022. Meiotic drive in house mice: mechanisms, consequences, and insights for human biology. Chromosome Research 30:165-186. DOI: 10.1007/s10577-022-09697-2. Boman J., C.F. Mugal, and N. Backström. 2021. The effects of GC-biased gene conversion on patterns of genetic diversity among and across butterfly genomes. Genome Biology and Evolution 13, no. 5:evab064. DOI: 10.1093/ gbe/evab064. Burt, A. and R. Trivers. 2006. Genes in conflict: The biology of selfish genetic elements. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. DOI: 10.4159/9780674029118. Camacho, J.P.M. 2022. Non-Mendelian segregation and transmission drive of B chromosomes. Chromosome Research 30:217-228. DOI: 10.1007/ s10577-022-09692-7. LIGHTNER Review of CRS eKINDS 2023 ICC 248
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