Creation Moment 5/19/2022 - Molecular Machines

 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:... Psalm 139:14

"A molecular machine, according to an article in the journal Accounts of Chemical Research, is “an assemblage of parts that transmit forces, motion, or energy from one to another in a predetermined manner.”

Behe then posed the question, “Can all of life be fit into Darwin’s theory of evolution?,” and answered: “The complexity of life’s foundation has paralyzed science’s attempt to account for it; molecular machines raise an as-yet impenetrable barrier to Darwinism’s universal reach.”

 

Selected List of Molecular Machines

1. Bacterial Flagellum

The flagellum is a rotary motor in bacteria that drives a propeller to spin, much like an outboard motor, powered by ion flow to drive rotary motion. Capable of spinning up to 100,000 rpm one paper in

Trends in Microbiology called the flagellum “an exquisitely engineered chemi-osmotic nanomachine; nature’s most powerful rotary motor, harnessing a transmembrane ion-motive force to drive a filamentous propeller.” Due to its motor-like structure and internal parts, one molecular biologist wrote in the journal Cell, “more so than other motors, the flagellum resembles a machine designed by a human.” Genetic knockout experiments have shown that the E. coli flagellum is irreducibly complex with respect to its approximately 35 genes.

2. Eukaryotic Cilium

The cilium is a hair-like, or whip-like structure that is built upon a

system of microtubules, typically with nine outer microtubule pairs and two inner microtubules. The microtubules are connected with nexin arms and a paddling-like motion is instigated with dynein motors. These machines perform many functions in Eukaryotes, such as allowing sperm to swim or removing foreign particles from the throat. Michael Behe observes that the “paddling” function of the cilium will fail if it is missing any microtubules, connecting arms, or lacks sufficient dynein motors, making it irreducibly complex.

3. Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases (aaRS)

aaRS enzymes are responsible for charging tRNAs with the proper amino acid so they can accurately participate in the process of translation. In this function, aaRSs are an “aminoacylation

machine.” Most cells require twenty different aaRS enzymes, one for each amino acid, without which the transcription/translation machinery could not function properly. As one article in Cell Biology International stated: “The nucleotide sequence is also meaningless without a conceptual translative scheme and physical ‘hardware’ capabilities. Ribosomes, tRNAs, aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, and amino acids are all hardware components of the Shannon message ‘receiver’. But the instructions for this machinery is itself coded in DNA and executed by protein ‘workers’ produced by that machinery. Without the machinery and protein workers, the message cannot be received and understood. And without genetic instruction, the machinery cannot be assembled.” Arguably, these components form an irreducibly complex system.

4. Blood clotting cascade

The blood coagulation system “is a typical example of a molecular machine, where the assembly of substrates, enzymes, protein cofactors and calcium ions on a phospholipid surface markedly accelerates the rate of coagulation.^" According to a paper in BioEssays, “the molecules interact with cell surface (molecules) and other proteins to assemble reaction complexes that can act as a molecular machine.” Michael Behe argues, based upon experimental data, that the blood clotting cascade has an irreducible core with respect to its components after its initiation pathways converge.

5. Ribosome

The ribosome is an “RNA machine” that “involves more than 300

proteins and RNAs” to form a complex where messenger RNA is translated into protein, thereby playing a crucial role in protein synthesis in the cell. Craig Venter, a leader in genomics and the Human Genome Project, has called the ribosome “an incredibly beautiful complex entity” which requires a “minimum for the ribosome about 53 proteins and 3 polynucleotides,” leading some evolutionist biologists to fear that it may be irreducibly complex.

6. Antibodies and the Adaptive Immune System

Antibodies are “the ‘fingers’ of the blind immune system — they allow it to distinguish a foreign invader from the body itself.” But the processes that generate antibodies require a suite of molecular machines. Lymphocyte cells in the blood produce antibodies by mixing and matching portions of special genes to produce over 100,000,000 varieties of antibodies. This “adaptive immune system” allows the body to tag and destroy most invaders.” 

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