15 KiB
Pokemon, The Origin of Species: Chapter 30 - Over the Mountain
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Author: u/DaystarEld Pokémon Professor*
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9794740/30/Pokemon-The-Origin-of-Species
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Score: 32
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Created: 2016-04-01T11:05:48
Post:
Comments:
u/KnickersInAKnit [+7] (an hour later)
You've explained the reason why everyone is hell bent on getting your number in the games. Excellent.
The in-universe jokes about Joey the top percentage Rattata are amazing.
He pulls a Burn Heal out and sprays a tiny amount at her. "It's no good, he's still looking at you!"
Not clear as to who 'he' refers to in both cases. I'm about 80% sure it's Blue, but perhaps this could be rephrased slightly.
find bacterial DNA in a lot of the human genome
Did you mean viral? mtDNA is theorized to have a bacterial origin. However, it's retroviruses that integrate their DNA into the host genome, which may end up getting stuck there. Other than that, prokaryote vs eukaryotes actually don't share much similarities in their cellular machinery, for example http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/rna-transcription-by-rna-polymerase-prokaryotes-vs-961
What we do instead is cross-chec
Check
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (6 hours later)
Not clear as to who 'he' refers to in both cases. I'm about 80% sure it's Blue, but perhaps this could be rephrased slightly.
Red the first time, Blue the second :) Fixed!
Did you mean viral?
I was referring to the research mentioned in these articles. Viruses apply too, but apparently so do bacteria. Has this research been debunked since?
Check
Fixed, thanks!
u/KnickersInAKnit [+6] (6 hours later)
First off, thank you for the article, that was a fascinating read. I've taken a look at it myself, and I'd like to point out this blurb from it:
Rather than looking for bacterial genes that had become permanent parts of the human genome, Dunning Hotopp’s team searched for traces of microbial DNA in somatic cells—the cells of the body that do not form gametes.
In this chapter, you pointed out the presence of bacterial DNA in the genome as an evolutionary artifact. In the article linked, they describe how different somatic cells (ex stomach) contain more species-specific bacterial sequences than others. If this were present as an evolutionary artifact, the bacterial sequences would be present throughout all somatic cells and the gametes.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (6 hours later)
Ahh, I see the distinction. The second article says there has been gene transfer between organisms throughout history, which I took to mean that it was there as the result of common ancestors, since I'm not sure how else arachnid or fungal DNA would show up in our genome. If that's the case, do we not yet have evidence in the genome of having evolved from ever simpler organisms along with other mammals, down to shared types of bacteria?
u/KnickersInAKnit [+4] (6 hours later)
Two articles. Oh. Each word was a link. Oh.
Okay so first one's in 2013, second's 2015. Let's take a look.
Alright, so, this blurb:
The paper doesn’t give any hints as to how the genes—which now play established roles in metabolism, immune responses, and basic biochemistry—may have been transferred or the exact timeline of the jumps, he says. That will take more work.
Fungal DNA is pretty straightforward, actually, we do get quite a bit of fungal infections so I don't find that completely out of the question for a horizontal gene transfer. Arachnid? More likely to be an artifact.
So what I think needs to be clarified here is the idea of conservation in the genome. A highly conserved gene is a gene that does its function so well, or has such an important function, that even changing it a little will result in a serious hit to fitness. In short, 'it ain't broke, don't even think about tweaking it'. The concept that this chapter seems to be trying communicate is that the human (and Pokemon) genome somehow has highly-conserved genes that are shared with bacteria, which point to us having evolved so long ago from bacterial ancestors. I'm making a point to say highly-conserved genes here, because if they weren't, they'd be lost very quickly to evolutionary time. A gene which isn't very important tends to get changed very quickly, much like a tool you use only once a year being lost easily. From my knowledge, eukaryotes don't share a whole lot of genes with prokaryotes. HOWEVER...
This brings me back to the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) topic. You may have heard of this before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiogenesis In short, it's a theory that mitochondria and plastids in plants were originally bacteria that didn't get successfully digested by our eukaryotic ancestors and instead became permanent tenants in our cells. Mitochondria and plastids share a LOT of similarities with prokaryotes. Additionally, mtDNA is very slow to change and mtDNA analysis is used as a method to differentiate very similar-looking species. Some reading for you here: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/organelles/
"Do new species of pokemon that get discovered still have the same markers in their genome?" Genome and mtDNA sequencing will tell you a lot about the history of a species. You'd look at the genome sequence first, then mtDNA if the genome is too similar. Here's a paper where they take a look at the mtDNA of sponges to see their evolutionary history: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-003-1178-5#/page-1
Edit: Ok, I'm good for now.
Another edit: No, I'm not. Here's some research that theorizes that our eukaryotic ancestors actually came from archaea instead! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/05/06/newly-discovered-missing-link-called-loki-ties-us-to-our-single-celled-ancestors/
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
This is all great stuff, thanks a lot! I'll have to take some time and read all of these so I can align the story's biology appropriately :)
u/None [+5] (7 hours later)
Yay, another chapter from my current favourite fanfiction! Thank you very much. (And on my cake-day!)
Though I love listening to the group and their dynamics, I am looking forward to exploring the more overreaching plot. The traditional "journey fic" provides a good plot skeleton, but I can't wait until things get more serious and the characters are tested more extremely. It's nice to see you world build and establish the identities of the characters, but if it keeps going without a more serious plot to supplement it, it runs the risk of becoming boring.
I have a question about your release schedule. Is there any particular reason you chose once-a-month, rather than, say, in batches like HPMOR? Writing-wise, are you far ahead of the release schedule, or are you releasing just about as fast as you write them? Also, is there an email list? I sometimes forget to check at the beginning of every month.
u/DaystarEld [+6] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
I can definitely understand that frustration, as I sometimes feel impatient to get to some of the plot points I have in mind. A lot of what seems like random adventures or unrelated info will become relevant later in the story, and I'm probably not doing a perfect job of striking the right balance between the two. That said, now that a lot of the world building and characters have been established and begun developing, the distance between "important" events should be shorter :)
I write one chapter a month and release everything as I write it, not counting outlines or worldbuilding stuff. I decided against batches like HPMOR because I've found having a deadline really helps me focus on getting writing done rather than endlessly editing, which is a trap I've fallen into in the past.
There's currently no email list, but if you make a fanfiction account you can Follow the story and get email notifications whenever a new chapter goes up. I'm working on my website currently, and when it's up I'll be sure to include things like an email list or RSS feed.
u/elevul [+1] Cyoria Observer (12 hours later)
May I recommend you crosslink each new chapter on Patreon, so people who give you money receive the notification email from Patreon when you write a new chapter?
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (18 hours later)
I can do that I guess. Never really considered that someone might be a patron but not make a Fanfiction account to follow the story :)
u/elevul [+1] Cyoria Observer (20 hours later)
Well, no need usually, since the other authors immediately cross link (and many even post the chapter in advance or in other offline reading formats for patrons).
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Right, I meant more that I just assumed the order of events went "Find story on reddit/Fanfiction, maybe follow story on Fanfiction, maaaybe become a patron." I never considered that people might skip step 2, but I'll start doing that now.
u/elevul [+1] Cyoria Observer (a day later)
Eh, keep in mind many people found out about your story from /r/rational as I did.
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
That's what I meant by reddit :)
u/Cariyaga [+1] Kyubey did nothing wrong (a day later)
Personally, I avoid spending as much time on ffnet as I can because otherwise I'll suffer the same issue people do from tvtropes. I'll look at an author's favorites that I like, find three that I might find interesting, and there I go for a month (and I never want to close that window, so it makes my computer lag a bit), haha...
It's part of the reason I'm grateful for this subreddit as a happy medium between me and ffnet.
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Makes sense :) I have to admit that I very rarely find stories on FF.net that I enjoy that I didn't get to through /r/rational, so I value it as a great filter too.
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (7 minutes later)
Hey all, welcome back! The earlier parts of this chapter stretched on a bit longer than I expected, so I had to cut it in two. Not sure how happy I am with how it turned out, will be doing some heavy edits tomorrow and the day after when I get the chance, so as usual all feedback welcome!
u/Lugnut1206 [+3] (5 hours later)
You... made it shorter?
:(
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (6 hours later)
I didn't want to end it somewhere randomly mid-scene, and I couldn't do a 10k+ word chapter (maybe someday). The content still exists, it'll just arrive next month. Small comfort, I know :P
u/Corticotropin [+1] (6 days later)
So far away... x_x
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (7 minutes later)
Typo thread here!
u/DerSaidin [+3] (3 hours later)
Blue's rattata is the largest of the three, while Red and Blue's are about equal.
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (6 hours later)
Fixed, thanks!
u/ZeroNihilist [+2] (16 hours later)
On their way up the mountain it tussled with some mankey that attacked them, and this is its first timeout since they left the pokemon center.
Should be "time out".
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Fixed, thanks!
u/None [+3] (a day later)
Loved the youngster Joey jokes! Gold was the first game I had and I've never forgot about him.
How much research do you do for this fic when it comes to the science bits? Because it is seriously impressive to read that kind of science in a fan fiction about Pokemon, where normally everything just gets explained as 'it's Pokemon, accept it' by other authors.
Again great chapter and keep it up!
u/DaystarEld [+4] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Thanks, glad you liked it!
I spend quite a bit of time researching, which is part of why each chapter takes so long. Sometimes I'll spend hours trying to figure something out, just to have it turn out that it doesn't work how I want or need it to to use in the story. That can be frustrating, but at least I'm always learning :) Glad to see it's appreciated!
u/elevul [+2] Cyoria Observer (3 hours later)
Yay, it continues! Can't wait to read it.
u/jldew [+2] (a day later)
Refresh my memory, what's a tier 3?
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Local disaster, where people in the immediate area are in danger. A non-legendary rogue pokemon rarely qualifies, but things like the pikachu's rampage in Viridian does, though combined with the forest fire the whole situation was elevated to Tier 2.
u/ZeroNihilist [+2] (a day later)
So a tier 1 event would be pretty much reserved for the legendaries?
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Mostly: Tier 1 is a region-wide threat, where trainers from all over will try and come help. The threat itself may not extend beyond a city at a time, but like the way the Storm Birds fly for hundreds of miles at a time, there's a chance of moving too, so that multiple cities are at risk.
u/Mizu25 [+2] (2 days later)
I like the mention of multiple pokemon center and Mt. Moon entrances. As well as the explanation for exchanging phone numbers mixing into the game mechanics of the Johto and Hoenn games.
Heh. Ace Trainers are some sort of academy-taught graduates here, it seems. Nice.
"They were not prepared for the memes that have plagued have the school ever since."
plagued half the school
"Okay, so mine only hit it 17 times. Fairly sure yours got higher.
got higher."
Roll by roll the entire area is slowly covered, until the workers pick long strips of burlap and buckets of what
looks like plaster. pick up long strips
Wonder what Tier 3 is? A pokemon?
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Glad you enjoyed it :) Also, all fixed, thanks!
Tier 3 is a crises that has the potential to effect an entire area (think a route in game terms), usually necessitating any trainers in the immediate vicinity to help out.
u/None [+1] (23 hours later)
Tier 3?! Praise Helix they'd be okay
u/None [+1] (16 days later)
Hey ! Love the story so far, just wanted to ask, will Red ever be challenging any gym leaders or doing any battling/training whatsoever besides the rare training sessions ?
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (16 days later)
Glad you liked it! And yes, indeed he will :)