A Thought About DNA

Many readers of the Book of Mormon wonder about what effect it had upon the Lamanites when the Lord changed them from a white skin to a dark skin, and when a Nephite defected over and joined the Lamanites. Since DNA is involved in the determination of skin color, it seems logical that some changes in the Lamanite DNA took place, which they then passed on to their children. Thus, no DNA in the Western Hemisphere should be found to match anything from the Jerusalem area.

According to Shuai Chen, PhD, a research associate in the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics at UW-Madison, “There isn't much genetic difference between Asians and Caucasians. In fact, at the DNA level, two Asians are often more different than an Asian and a Caucasian person” (Dr. Shuai Chen, “Understanding Genetics: What percent of DNA is different between a Caucasian and an Asian?” The Tech Interactive, Museum of Innovation, Stanford University at the Tech, Department of Genetics, Stanford School of Medicine, November 24, 2008)

People are far more alike than they are different

 

One might wonder how that can be when different groups look so diverfse. Shuai tells us that it is because those differences are only skin deep. And they don't need much DNA to happen—most of our DNA has nothing to do with how we look. It's used to make our hearts, internal organs, the body and its functions, including, two arms, two legs, height and hair on top of the head, etc. The DNA also makes sure that the eyes are at the top of the face, nose in the middle and mouth at the bottom. Also, the shape of  the chin, the length of the neck, the size of our ears.

Shuai also states that “All these things can be somewhat different between people. And many of these differences come from having slightly different DNA—for example, one person’s DNA will make a nose a different shape than another person. But most of these characteristics have nothing to do with whether or not someone is Asian or Caucasian. They have more to do with differences found between any two people. What this means is that most DNA differences are not specific to any ethnic group.”

There's only a small part of DNA that's involved in specific differences between Asians and Caucasians. Things like eye shape and color, skin color and hair texture take only the tiniest fraction of our DNA. In fact, skin color is determined only by a very, very, very small percentage of the DNA difference—specifically, a person’s genes are about 99.9% the same as the DNA in any other person’s genes—that is, in every other human being. These genes are the basic biological units that transmit characteristics from one generation to the next, though personality is not determined by any single gene. Instead it results from the actions of many genes working together. The differences among people are actually determined in part by the small amount (in humans, the 0.1%) of the differences in genes among the members of the species.

The nitrogen bases in DNA are the basic units of genetic code, and their correct ordering and pairing is essential to biological function

 

“We are all more similar than we are different,” she added. “And a tall Asian might actually be more similar genetically to a tall Caucasian person then he is to a short Asian person.”

As the saying goes in the DNA labs—the differences between people is only skin deep. Consider one trait that is different in Asian and Caucasian peoples—their skin color. There are only a couple of genes that determine the general color of a person's skin. These are the genes that explain why, for example, more people of African descent are darker than Europeans. Or why most Asians are lighter than native Australians.

But there are lots of other skin color genes that are not ethnic group specific. These are the genes that give slight shading variations between people of the same group. Not all Europeans are equally pale nor all Africans equally dark.

The differences in these genes are almost certainly shared between ethnic groups. A light skinned Asian may share certain genes with a light skinned European. Meaning that for skin color, the lighter Asian may have more in common genetically with the lighter European than with a darker Asian.

But skin color isn't all there is to skin. There are a ton of other genes that tell your skin cells to look the way they do or make it possible for skin cells to do their jobs. Almost none of these are specific to any ethnic group.

Everyone's skin cells need to cover their body; they form a protective barrier against diseases and other bad things. This means there are many genes that tell your skin cells to have strong connecting bonds with each other so nothing can sneak in between.

Other genes tell the skin cells where to grow—after all, a person would not want skin cells growing in their brains or their hearts, they have to be on the outside of the body, a fact directed by one’s DNA that is identical with every other person in that respect! As for the skin on your arms and compare it with the skin on a person’s face or the skin on the bottom of their feet—genes are needed to tell the skin to be softer on face and tougher on the feet.

Hands have different textures which can be felt when touching or shaking hands

 

When a person shakes hands with a random number of people, they notice that everyone's palms are different. Some people have softer skin, some have calluses and hard skins, some have wet sweaty palms, and some have super dry skin. These are another set of genetic traits of skin that aren't dependent on what one's ethnic background is.

So most of our skin differences aren't between ethnic groups. A dry-skinned darker Asian has a lot more in common with a dry-skinned darker Caucasian than with a sweaty, pale Asian.

According to Shuai, this is also found in eye differences between Asians and Caucasians. Eye color and shape can definitely be different between these two groups, though very few genes are involved. No matter what an eye looks like, it has to be able to see, and needs to be placed on the right spot on our heads; they need to be protected by eyelashes and eyebrows, etc. Everyone shares all of these genes and most differences aren't based on what ethnic group you come from.

For example, around three genes code for eye color. But there are at least six genes (and probably more) that code for whether your eyes are near-sighted. So, a brown-eyed near-sighted Asian person might have more genes in common with a blue-eyed near-sighted European than with a brown-eyed Asian with normal vision. In fact, this sort of thing can keep building as we consider more and more of our bodies. Putting hair on top of our heads and patterns of balding involve more genes than does hair texture or color. Foot size has nothing to do with ethnic groups. And so on.

So a tall, big footed, pale, near sighted, balding Caucasian may have much more in common with a tall, big footed, pale, near sighted, balding Asian than with a short, small footed, dark, Caucasian with 20/20 vision and a full head of hair. All of this boils down to the fact that the differences between ethnic groups are much less than the differences between people in general. Now having said this, there are of course differences. They are just not that significant genetically speaking.

Scientists have found that 85% of all human genetic variation exists within human populations while only 15% exists between all the different ethnic groups.

And most of these differences are not what you think they would be. A few are the obvious traits written above, and some others are like lactose intolerance. But most are in parts of one’s DNA that does not seem very important. This is because any DNA changes in these areas do not matter very much, they are free to build up over time. It is these differences that scientists use to trace someone's ancestry. Or to help identify a criminal's ethnic group to help solve a crime.

But these differences are minor compared to the wide range of differences we all share among different ethnic groups. Genetics has shown that we really are all more alike than we are different.