Does the Apo-AIM mutation represent a loss of information?
The AiG page claims that information-increasing mutations are required for evolution. The concept of “information” is a problematic one in biology, as most measures only imperfectly capture key aspects of genetic change. Biologists prefer to think in terms of gene number and gene/protein function. While an increase in gene number and function is not required (parasites which have lost genes do quite nicely), increase in gene number has occurred. Certainly the average vertebrate has more protein coding genes than worms or insects, and these in turn have more protein coding genes than unicellular yeast. The basis of this increase is largely via duplication of pre-existing genes. For example, one of the major differences between vertebrates and worms, and worms and yeasts, is an increase in the numbers of modified copies of a class of enzymes called tyrosine kinases. By most measures of “information” a vertebrate with 30,000 genes in its genome has more information than a yeast with a mer
