Epigenetics and the Architect

In 1953 Watson and Crick ignited the genetics revolution with their discovery of the double helix. Today a second revolution is underway thanks to the discovery of DNA’s mysterious partner in the elegant waltz of cellular life — the epigenome. The sophistication of that dance is astonishing researchers and upending the genetic paradigm. Epigenetics and the Architect explores the latest in this unfolding revolution but goes a step further than other recent introductions to the subject.

Evolutionary theory holds that all life diversified through a series of random mutations to DNA, but we now know that much of the information employed to build biological form is situated in epigenetic architecture beyond the reach of random genetic mutations and natural selection. As authors Thomas Woodward and James Gills show, this and the sheer intricacy of the genome/epigenome system are reinvigorating an ancient idea — that living things look designed because they are. 

Praise

In Epigenetics and the Architect Thomas Woodward and James Gills have written a masterful tour de force, providing a compelling account of the bewilderingly complex realm of the genome and epigenome. The epigenome is a complex integrated system of molecular controls that regulates which genes are expressed in particular cell types. The book provides a detailed and comprehensive account in easy-to-read, non-technical language of the ways the epigenome carries out this vital task. The authors describe how the attachment of small chemical groups to specific sites along the DNA molecule, or to specific histone sites in the chromatin, promotes or represses the expression of particular genes. And while the complexity of the epigenome, which regulates the expression of genes in one cell type, is in itself mind blowing, the total epigenomic complexity of any whole multicellular organism is vastly more complex, as each cell type has a different epigenome. And there is a further layer of complexity. As the authors explain, the vital controlled placement of the tags on different genes, through which downward control is imposed on gene expression and hence on the functional characteristics of different cells, is carried out by a host of mind bogglingly complex molecular machines, all under the strict overall control of the cell. This remarkable book conveys more than any other book I have recently read something of the extraordinary, transcending complexity and wonder of biological systems, and every open-minded person who reads this book should agree that there is indeed here “Evidence of Design at the Frontier of Biology.” 

Michael Denton, biochemist and author of Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Nature’s Destiny, and The Miracle of the Cell 

The common view of the theory of evolution is that Charles Darwin proposed natural selection, in place of the crafting by a directed intelligence, to explain the variety among living organisms. As a physicist, the assertion that such unguided creation eliminated, by extension, the necessity of a creator anywhere in science is a triumphalism that was never justified. While Darwinism may explain the origin of species, the origin of the physical laws that allow the formation of DNA and the mutations that drive evolution remains unanswered. Additionally, Woodward and Gills point out that the popular narrative is incomplete and misleading even within biology. With epigenetics comes a control system that involves the entire cell and reveals the inadequacy of focusing on the genetic information in DNA without its expression. This more comprehensive picture not only enables cell variety based on the same genome but allows that random mutations in DNA are not the only way changes can be passed from one generation to the next. In Epigenetics and the Architect, we have a clear exposition of an important area of biology and a cautionary tale as well. Science is an “endless frontier,” as Vannevar Bush famously put it, but only as long as we have minds unshackled by our prejudices. 

Robert Kaita, Senior Physicist, Princeton University 

In accessible prose, Woodward and Gills show that the cell’s information systems extend well past DNA, far into multiple layers of sophisticated, interdependent codes. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why shopworn Darwinism is crumbling. 

Michael J. Behe, Professor of Biological Science, Lehigh University, author of Darwin’s Black Box and Darwin Devolves 

Epigenetics and the Architect is a rather interesting book at several levels. Easily read in one sitting, it manages to review recent research into the epigenome, while showing both how it complements — and to some extent challenges — the dogmas of modern genetics and bolsters the case for intelligent design against a purposeless Neo-Darwinism. But equally intriguing are the remarks sprinkled throughout the text about the role that lifestyle choices can make to enhance the workings of the epigenome, possibly across generations, suggesting a role for intelligent design theory in the practice of medicine. 

Steve Fuller, Professor of Social Epistemology, University of Warwick, UK, author of Dissent over Descent: Intelligent Design’s Challenge to Darwinism (Icon Books) 

The molecular revolution in biology started in the 1950s with the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, soon followed by the discovery of the genetic code and molecular machines for synthesizing RNA molecules and proteins. These hallmarks of design inspired the birth of the intelligent design movement in the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, research in molecular biology has revealed that the cell is even more advanced, with dozens of other codes and molecular machines that need to cooperate in an irreducibly complex way. Today we know that DNA is orchestrated and expressed through various epigenetic mechanisms in ways that guide embryological development and differ between cell types. Our epigenetics are affected by lifestyle, and to some extent those changes are passed on to subsequent generations. In short, the Central Dogma of molecular biology (DNA makes RNA makes proteins) has been replaced by the Cellular Dogma, with many codes throughout the cell. In Epigenetics and the Architect, Woodward and Gills describe this epigenetic revolution in a profound yet engaging way, accessible to a large audience. They convincingly argue that these newly discovered design features of the cell bear stronger evidence than ever for a Master Architect. I highly recommend Epigenetics and the Architect. It is my hope that the book is widely read and that anyone who reads it gets to know the Architect behind the designed cell. 

Ola Hössjer, Professor of Mathematical Statistics, Stockholm University, probability theorist with applications in population genetics, epidemiology, fine-tuning in biology, and the limits of evolutionary mechanisms; winner of the Gustafsson Prize in Mathematics 

For anyone who was taught that all the information needed to build an organism is contained entirely in the DNA, this book is a must read to bring your science up-to-date. Our cells are permeated with vital information within, on top of, and beyond the DNA — and Epigenetics and the Architect will take readers on a highly educational yet readable and enjoyable tour of where that information resides throughout the cell. The complexity of the molecular machines and pathways regulating this epigenetic information is astounding — and it shouts “design” all throughout! 

Casey Luskin, co-author of Science and Human Origins, Traipsing into Evolution: Intelligent Design and the Kitzmiller v. Dover Decision, and Discovering Intelligent Design 

I find the book Epigenetics and the Architect a comprehensive, interesting, and appropriate introduction to the intricacies of the interacting coding systems of the genetic makeup of organisms. It is comprehensive in compiling the latest advances in epigenetic studies by including various coding systems of the cell. It is interesting because it is written in layman’s language and successfully employs science fiction storytelling techniques in places to explore real cellular functions. Its explanation of the various interacting coding systems of the cells and embryos leads to an inescapable implication of the design paradigm, which until the Enlightenment was the guiding principle of earlier scientific research. The authors then reiterate the arguments of design inferences, irreducible complexities, and the inability of undirected evolutionary processes by natural selection to produce novel protein functions or body plans. They also include evidence that theistic faith tends to produce behaviors that maintain or improve epigenetic health, which can be passed on to future generations. The book makes a strong contribution to the arguments that the design hypothesis is a viable and productive venue for future scientific research.  

Pattle P. Pun, Professor of Biology Emeritus, Wheaton College 

Are you ready to experience a “fantastic voyage,” one that takes you right inside the cell to update you on the latest scientific discoveries on how it actually works? It’s heady stuff, but there’s no need to feel intimidated. In Epigenetics and the Architect, Thomas Woodward and Dr. James P. Gills do a masterful job of safely piloting you from the old dogma of the genome coding only for RNA and proteins, and rife with “junk,” to the revelation that it’s the epigenome that controls DNA expression, through non-junky, non-coding DNA and many other non-genomic mechanisms. Why does all this matter? Besides showing that evolutionary biologists missed the boat on accurately predicting how life actually works, the book’s revelations also explain how the cells in your body can have virtually identical genomes but differentiate into hundreds of different cell types. It also opens up new vistas into healthcare and, as the authors opine, “adds immeasurably to one’s appreciation for the beauty and ingenuity of life’s design.” Be amazed, be elevated, and be humbled! Highly recommended for the layman who wants to be on the forefront of scientific knowledge. 

Howard Glicksman, physician and co-author of Your Designed Body 

The compelling book Epigenetics and the Architect by authors Woodward and Gills deserves special recognition for two reasons: It addresses highly complex genetic topics using cutting-edge scientific information while remaining accessible and engaging for non-specialist readers, and it demonstrates that the extraordinary complexity of the cell’s molecular machinery — along with its genetic and epigenetic regulation — provides strong support for the theory of intelligent design. Woodward and Gills ask whether such remarkable molecular complexity and epigenetic regulation could have arisen with purpose or without purpose. The answer they provide, supported by multiple and compelling lines of evidence, is that this astonishing complexity could only have emerged with a clearly defined purpose. It is an inference to the best explanation. Chance and necessity, proposed by Jacques Monod in the 1970s as the driving forces behind biological complexity, are now revealed as absurd in light of these new discoveries. The materialist philosophy underlying Darwinian evolution and the modern synthesis has become obsolete and reaches its limits in the face of the findings of epigenetics. This highly recommended and groundbreaking book will lead readers to discover the Architect behind the marvelous design of molecular genetics and its epigenetic regulation. 

Ricardo Bravo, Professor of Zoology and Dean of the Faculty of Oceanography and Natural Resources, Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile 

If Darwin had known more about biology, he never would have proposed his theory of evolution. Here Woodward and Gills present such information, in the epigenetics category, with wonderful descriptions and stories about the science, the scientists, and the biological revelations they are uncovering. Highly recommended. 

Cornelius G. Hunter, biophysicist and author of Science’s Blind Spot: The Unseen Religion of Scientific Naturalism and Darwin’s God: Evolution and the Problem of Evil