This is why I don't like debating religion

[Torillian]

happydolphin said:

Torillian said:

this only matters if those populations were small enough that they'd be forced to inbreed at some point, and that the populations will not grow past that point later.  Sure if you have 10 eligible mates in the population then pretty quickly you run out of possibilities and someone is going to have to sleep with someone related to them by a few generations back or so, but if you have 100 by the time anyone is forced to sleep with someone at some point related to them the inbreeding will be so distant as to be inconsequential.  Sleeping with someone who shares a Great Great Great Grandmother doesn't really matter too much from a genetic standpoint.

Tor, now let's ask the honest questions.

In the very origin of species, the very first species beyond the cell, how did the gen pool prove resilient against the inbreeding problem of genetics?

At the very first moments of speciation when you needed two individuals to procreate?

What about the gene that dictates breeding?

Here's where I'm not very knowledgeable. I know that the cell multiplies, so there is no concept of inbreeding for cells. I'm assuming the same applies to bacteria amiright? Then, what do we consider the very first species proper and do all species breed?

Disclaimer: I'm a biochemist, this is not directly within my field but here's my understanding of it.

Again, I don't think inbreeding was a problem because evolution is not an individual thing, it's something that happens to large groups over incredibly long times.

According to the idea of speciation there would never be just 2 individuals you could procreate with each other because that wouldn't make a viable group/species.  Speciation only occurs with large groups and you don't get speciation within a group to have individuals that can't procreate unless they have a genetic defect that would end their gene line anyway.  

Don't believe we know any specific gene that dictates breeding.

Cells actually don't have inbreeding because they're able to share and "trade" DNA fragments in other ways.  New genes are usually made through random mutation in cells which occurs at a much faster rate because of the small amount of time between "generations" in which copying the DNA of a cell to make a new one always comes with some random error.  So then once the cells have a gene that is beneficial they need a way to mix their genes with other individuals of the species.  Many (perhaps all, I haven't looked that much into it) cell lines have plasmids which are small circular pieces of DNA that they will shoot out into their environment and any other cell can pick up and incorporate, if that specific gene turns out to be beneficial than the cells with that gene will begin to dominate and that's how evolution in general works for single cell organisms.  So all species have some way in which to mix DNA from individuals in order to make the species as a whole more adaptable to their environment in hopes that it helps them survive.  

The above procedure for Cells passing plasmids to one another is actually how we as biochemists insert genes for proteins we want to study into E. Coli which is easy to grow and we know how to take advantage of its systems well.  We have to futz with the conditions to give us the best chances possible of the cells actually incorporating the plasmid, but that's where biologists got the idea in the first place.