You don't have to believe in evolution to benefit from the research which relies on it

July 10, 4:14 PMPopular Science ExaminerAsta Gindulyte

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A stylized drawing of a DNA fragment. (Public domain picture)

According to a recent Gallup poll taken on 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, only 39% of Americans believe in evolution. And then there is the ongoing debate about whether it's appropriate to teach the theory evolution in schools.

Yet in the science world, the theory of evolution is widely accepted. The focus is rather on understanding it further, and making a good use of it. For instance, molecular evolution is routinely utilized in gene discovery.

Given that human genome contains about 3 billion DNA base pairs, and the vast majority of them are so called "junk", a task of finding a gene of interest is like looking for a needle in a haystack. In fact, only about 1.5% of human  DNA contains the "interesting" code that translates into proteins.

That's where molecular evolution comes in. By comparing DNA sequences from different species, scientists look for similar segments. The DNA sequence segments that code for genes, tend to be fairly similar among different species, while the junk DNA varies widely. The fact that different species have similar genes suggest, of course, that at one point in time they were one and the same, but have since evolved.

Discovering a gene is no small achievement, and it's no wonder, that such research is often announced on the news. Once a gene responsible for a particular function in the human body is discovered, it becomes a lot easier to design drugs that treat diseases associated with that particular function. Still not a walk in the park, but it does open a lot of leads for further research.

Doesn't it seem somewhat ironic, however, that people who do not believe in evolution, may have been or will be treated by drugs discovered with the help of this remarkable theory? Would they refuse the treatment if they knew how the drugs were discovered or would they become believers?