The Cell's Design--part 2

In the last blog, I introduced you to Dr. Fuzale Rana's book, The Cell’s Design. His claim is that today's biochemists have uncovered amazing molecular features inside the cell that lead to one reasonable conclusion -- a supernatural agent must be responsible for life. Let's move on to further chapters in the book which offer more reasons why he believes this is the case.

In Chapter 4, he introduces molecular motors. He starts with a famous example, which has been brought up in previous books -- the bacterial flagellum. Made up of over 40 different kinds of proteins, this is essentially a molecular-sized electrical motor which rotates a propeller, allowing the bacterial cell to navigate through its environment. But the rest of the chapter has many more examples of these molecular motors. Some are rotary in nature, including parts such as turbines, rotors, cams, and stators. Some motors spin, and some swivel. One amazing molecular motor, dynein, carries cargo throughout the cell along microtubule tracks. This motor literally shifts gears in response to the load that it is carrying. You can see a terrific video put out by Harvard showing dynein in operation--Google "The world inside the cell" then "cell--inner life." His conclusion? Eexperience teaches us that machines and motors don't just happen.

He sees these motors as an update of the watchmaker argument (just as watches which display design are the product of a watchmaker, so organisms which also display design are the product of a creator ). The discovery of these biomolecular motors and machines inside the cell revealed a diversity of form and function that mirrors the diversity of designs produced by human engineers. In addition, researchers working with nanotechnology reinforce the idea that molecular motors in the cell are literal motors in every sense. The contrast between synthetic molecular motors designed by some of the finest organic chemists in the world and the elegance and complexity of molecular motors found in cells is striking. Actually, the cell's machinery is vastly superior to anything that the best human designers can conceive or accomplish. For example, bacterial flagella operate near 100% efficiency while man-made electric motors only function at 65% efficiency ,and the best combustion engines only attain a 30% efficiency.

Dr. Rana’s next chapter deals with a chicken-and-egg problem. DNA houses the information the cell needs to make proteins, which play such a vital role in almost every cell function. Biochemists call DNA a self-replicating molecule. However, DNA cannot replicate on its own. Instead, it requires a variety of proteins. So here's the problem -- proteins cannot be produced without DNA, and DNA cannot be produced without proteins. Many proteins, in addition, need the assistance of other proteins to fold into the proper three-dimensional shape after they've been produced at the ribosome. Once again, you need proteins to help fold proteins. You can't have one without the other. Biochemical chicken-and-egg systems represent a special type of irreducible complexity where you need all the parts to function properly. He raises questions about the ability of evolutionary processes to produce these systems.

I need more space to explore further chapters in Dr. Rana's book, but the information is pretty dense. I'll keep these blogs short enough for you to digest the ideas--more to come next time.