The term mutation certainly gets a lot of miles within the topic of biology, genetics, and evolution. As these copy error mistakes rightly should seeing they are presumed to be the mechanism behind “how” Neo-Darwinian common descent evolution occurs. The Theory presumes that individual amino acid “letter” copy errors made during the replication of DNA genetic material accumulate gradually over many generations. These copy error mutations are thought to provide beneficial fitness gains to future generations. In fact, these mutations are reported to be the mechanism that caused novel organisms to spontaneously emerge over millions of years. Mutations are the “how” the first living bacteria-like organisms eventually emerged into multi-cellular organisms which include humans.
The only way to find out if mutations might plausibly provide such a mechanism for common descent evolution to happen, we must carefully examine the various types of mutations. There are many ways a copy error mutation can alter the genetic material including substitutions, insertions, and deletions. Nature is spontaneous and blind and can seek out no target. Therefore these mutations either are beneficial, negative, or silent. Silent meaning that no immediate or observable effect either positive or negative is measurable.
Biology and genetics divide mutations into two different types: germline and somatic.
Somatic mutations are those copy errors that occur after conception. About 1/3 of somatic mutations are silent. However, billions of dollars of medical research in genetics has confirmed that 2/3 of all somatic mutations directly cause cancers, diseases, and death.1 Essentially no one, not even the most die-hard evolutionists will proclaim that somatic mutations provide any benefit. At best they can point out that 1/3 are silent, thereby holding out hope that maybe later they might provide benefit. This hope yet remains to be seen.
Germline mutations are very different from somatic mutations as they do not use copy error mutations at all. Germline provides a vast variety of genetic options to the offspring during reproduction at conception. So Germline is at conception when the first new strand of DNA is formed in the offspring and somatic mutations are everything after that.
In human beings, the Germline provides the variance of hair, skin, or eye colorations, or even height or intellect of the offspring. The variety of Germline comes not from mutations but from preexisting gene variants called DNA alleles. Alleles are gene variants often defined as dominant or recessive traits. These alleles are directly provided by the parent’s sex cells at reproduction.
Again, Germline “mutations” have absolutely nothing to do with mutations but gene variants. This is why the term “mutation” is associated with the Germline function is highly suspicious. However, these two types of mutations are used interchangeably nonetheless. No wonder we are so confused about how mutations might provide benefits. Clearly the gene variants of alleles provide nothing but benefit while somatic nothing but harm.
Germline “mutations” work within careful copy protections provided by DNA that function carefully as to try to not allow any mutation (genetic copy error) to harm these highly protected preexisting genes. Depending on the living organism, the germline is replicated faithfully up to the 11th decimal of perfection. This is a jaw-dropping 99.99999999999% purity without any somatic mutation being passed to the germline.2
However, somatic mutations do (rarely) pass to the germline despite occurring only 0.00000000001% of the time. This mutation happens when any genetic copy error (Somatic mutation) from the parent’s sex cells (or perhaps a mutation from an ancestor of a parent) finds its way into the Germline and passes to the offspring. The results of this mutation are disastrous causing most fetuses to terminate early (perhaps as much as 99% of the time).5 The mutation within the DNA alleles of the parents occurs before being passed to the offspring at reproduction. An example of this is the endemic disease and genetic mutation called Sickle Cell.3 Finally, to complete this process, the genetic mutation to the Germline is then passed to its offspring when it matures and reproduces later in life. This is the only way common descent evolution could occur (if it ever does in fact occur).
Unfortunately, each and every measurable (as in genetically verified in the modern lab) Somatic mutation to the alleles (a copy error to the Germline) has been directly linked to mass degradation of function. Directly causing countless diseases, cancers (likely all of them), congenital disorders, deformities, disabilities like Autism,4 and mass fetal death.5 The actual results of mutations are quite difficult to look upon.
Why are the beneficial genetic variety provided by the Germline referred to as “mutations” just like copy errors of Somatic mutations? Germline gene variants are categorized as mutations despite being a preexisting function and not due to copy errors in the genetic material. Why are these natural phenomena interchangeably called mutations despite these glaring opposite realities? Many reasons become self-evident. For one, by calling these vastly unrelated phenomena the same thing, it adds false credibility to the theory of common descent evolution. Why? Because knowing that the overwhelmingly positive gained by the offspring during reproduction come directly from the Germline, it at least offers consolation to the known destruction of Somatic mutations that directly cause diseases, cancers, and death.
In conclusion, if the two primary types of mutations (Somatic and Germline) are examined, then it is quite simple to see the tenents of common descent evolution are lacking a mechanism. The concept of Neo-Darwinian common descent evolutionary theory is found only to be modern-day mythology not supported by genetic data.
1- https://hub.jhu.edu/2017/03/23/cancer-mutations-caused-by-random-dna-mistakes/
2- “Studies of spontaneous mutation rates in various systems have provided a baseline value for the in vivo replication error rate. When expressed per base pair (per round of replication), the rates can be 5 × 10^−10 for bacterial systems (E. coli) or 5 × 10^−11 for mammalian systems” (Drake et al., 1998). DNA replication fidelity in Escherichia coli: a multi-DNA polymerase affair
3- https://medlineplus.gov/sicklecelldisease.html
4- Germline mutations account for many hereditary cancer syndromes (possibly all cancers are directly caused by somatic mutations) including pancreatic, tumors, breast cancers, colon cancers, endometrial cancers, (see tables 1-4 below), also Cystic Fibrosis, Down Syndrome, Deformities, Congenital disorders, (see table 5) and disabilities such as Autism (Table 6). Table 1: Common benign and malignant tumors and the criteria that warrant assessment for cancer predisposition; Table 2: Rare benign and malignant tumors and the criteria that warrant assessment for cancer predisposition; Table 3: Carney complex criteria; Table 4: Cowden syndrome criteria (National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2013); Table 5: List of genetic disorders. Table 6: https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/autism-spectrum-disorder/#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20other%20genes,in%20only%20a%20single%20gene
5- Fetal Death due to genetic mutations in the germline. Infant Mortality: the Contribution of Genetic Disorders.
