The Orca Revelation Read online



  Title: The Orca Revelation

  Author: D. Charles Miller

  Copyright 2015 David C. Miller

  The Orca Revelation

  Alex was a bright young scientist at the beginning of his career. He had just earned his Ph.D. in molecular genetics and had won a prestigious award for the research he had done. The award came with a prize, a grant for seventy thousand dollars. The money could be used for any project he wanted to research. This was total academic freedom; a rare opportunity in these days of corporate funding. Now even government grants were tainted by the desires of corporate interests; research purely for the sake of advancing knowledge was disappearing.

  In relation to the cost of genetic research, seventy thousand dollars was not that much money, but the costs for gene sequencing were dropping exponentially, so there was still room for some real science. Alex had some great ideas, but none of them could go very far on just seventy thousand dollars. This was going to require a great deal of thought.

  One evening he was home watching a nature show on television which aired some old film footage of the extinct Tasmanian wolf. He had seen this film before, but it reminded him of how in nature form follows function. The Tasmanian wolf was a marsupial; a rat or a horse was more closely related to a wolf than it was. Yet it looked like a wolf, and it functioned like a wolf. Nature had a niche for a wolf-like animal, so one evolved to fill it. If he had the genome for the Tasmanian wolf, he could compare it to that of actual wolves to see if form followed function on the genetic level. Did it evolve similar genes in order to resemble a wolf or was its solution totally unique?

  The point was moot since the genome for the Tasmanian wolf was not available, but it got him thinking: Was there another example of this phenomenon that he could study? Then providence, his phone rang. It was his mother. They talked for about an hour. He told her about the prize that he had won, and on how difficult it was going to be to think of a research idea that could be done with such a small amount of money. She asked him when he was going to marry his girlfriend and give her some grandchildren. She complained about getting older and the hot flashes she was starting to have. After they had finished talking, it hit him: hot flashes.

  Only three mammals are known where the females experience menopause: humans, orcas, and pilot whales. No other primate or for that matter any terrestrial mammals have menopause. Did orcas and humans evolve similar genes for menopause or were their solutions unique? Now he had his topic. This could be accomplished by comparing databases using computers, so there was no need for expensive lab work. It was perfect. Even a negative result would have value. It would show that humans and orcas evolved distinct and unique genes resulting in menopause.

  The problem with comparing genes between mammals or for that matter any animal is that there are a lot of common genes, like those for hemoglobin and insulin. Genes like these have been stable for a long time and are common to all mammals. Luckily someone had already solved this problem. They had created a database of human genes minus the ones that we have in common with chimpanzees, thus all the genes that we should have in common with orcas have been removed. This database was readily available as was the one for the orca genome.

  Alex was eager to get started on his postdoctoral research. Using his phone and laptop, he ordered the computer equipment and software that he needed, then he purchased the databases. After he was done, he was glad to see that there was enough money left over to hire a part-time assistant. He himself was scheduled to teach a few classes this semester which would earn him enough to cover his living expenses.

  He went to see his thesis advisor Dr. Anderson to ask if he could recommend a talented undergrad for the assistant’s position. Alex explained that the project involved extensive database searches to explore the idea of form following function at the molecular level. Alex kept to generalities and did not disclose the specifics of this research to Dr. Anderson, who was also intrigued by the notion of the parallel evolution of genes. The Professor had just the candidate for the job and gave Alex the student’s email address.

  Mike Campbell was a senior majoring in biochemistry with a minor in computer science. He was bright, creative and extremely self-motivated. Physically he was tall, handsome and most likely gay, but no one knew for sure. In the realm of science, no one really cared either. Intelligence, skills, and productivity are what are valued. Being able to work well in a team was also considered an asset. Alex and Mike clicked, and he was hired.

  The first month of the project was fairly mundane. It involved mostly setup and waiting for the equipment to arrive. Mike spent most of his time reading manuals, while Alex worked on protocols and formalizing the science. Alex decided that they would first search for genes that matched eighty percent or better, then they would examine these gene pairs and rate them to as how well they matched. Alex was not expecting to find many matches, if any. A trait like menopause would not necessarily involve that many new genes; nature tended to be very efficient.

  Finally their lab area was finished. The computers were up and running, and the software had been loaded, and Mike was testing it. Mike had also written what he called “glue code.” Software that coordinated the other programs to work together and produce the desired results. One program compared the two databases. When matches meeting the eighty percent threshold were discovered, it would dump them into a file. Another program would then analyze the matching genes and then rate and order them according to the quality of the match. Even though these computers were very fast, the search would still take a couple of days to run. They started the programs, and then took a well-deserved two days off.

  Alex went to see his girlfriend. Julie was a tall, thin, attractive blonde who was working on her master’s degree in art history. She was glad to see Alex. She had missed him for he was devoting so much of his time to his research: first his doctoral thesis and now this new project. She wondered if this was going to be a lifelong pattern. She wanted to marry Alex, but she did not want to become a work widow. Their first day together, they made love a lot. The second, they ventured out to have fun in more public ways.

  It was all short lived. Mike called and told him that the first run was finished. The computer had called Mike’s smart phone, just the way he had programmed it to do. They met up at the lab the next day to examine the results. Alex was shocked. The computer had come up with over one hundred and twenty matches, all better than ninety five percent. His first thought was that the database of human genes still contained many genes that were in common with chimpanzees. He called the creator of the database and told him of this strange result. He assured Alex that the problem was not with the database, but he would double check it. Alex ordered the complete chimpanzee genome database. He was going to do his own comparison.

  He had Mike write their own program to verify their matches. To Mike this was child’s play so being the self-motivated man that he was; he went well beyond what was asked. Within a week, he had not only verified the matches, he had mapped the genes to their respective chromosomes in a beautiful graphic presentation. When they looked at it, they could barely believe their eyes.

  “Looks like someone did a cut and paste job on humanity.” Said Mike.

  Anyone looking at this graphic would come to the same conclusion. The genes formed small groups configured adjacently on the orca’s chromosomes and this was mirrored on the human ones. This was not the product of evolution. This was genetic manipulation. The next question was if man was genetically engineered, who were the engineers?

  “We need to double check, no triple check everything. I’m going to confirm that our database doesn’t contain any chimp genes.” Said Alex in a loud excited voice.

  “I don’t
think it’s going to change the result.” Said Mike.

  “Probably not, but this is big, too big. We cannot afford any mistakes.”

  They went back to work, checking procedures and testing the software. It took them weeks and many late nights. In addition to confirming their results, Alex went online to research any theories related to human beings being genetically modified organisms. To his surprise there was quite a following for this idea; most of it coming from the work of Zechariah Sitchin author of the book The Twelfth Planet. Sitchin had interpreted ancient Sumerian myths as describing this exact scenario: That human beings were genetically modified from indigenous hominids by advanced beings i.e. the gods in order to be exploited for slave labor. Alex humorously thought to himself that this did not bode well for the A.I. guys, since the gods chose biology over robotics, but what they had discovered was not funny. It had huge implications for science, society and religion. Was science even open-minded enough to examine this evidence, or would they choose to ignore it? Could society handle it, and would religions try to violently suppress it? This was overwhelming Alex. He did not want to be