Bacterial Protein Acetylation: The Dawning of a New Age

Molecular biology is not only a story of complex molecules, machines and processes but also of massive information flow via a variety of molecular messages. And while information flow is often associated with the DNA macromolecule, there are less celebrated but ubiquitous armies of molecular machines that are busy attaching, modifying and removing small chemical tags to and from both DNA and proteins. It is a massive information network and these chemical tags—such as methyl, hydroxyl and phosphate groups—act as a sort of molecular modifier or barcode regulating a diverse array of cellular functions. Another molecular barcode is the acetyl group, long thought to be mainly at work in eukaryotes, has now found to be important in bacteria as well. It is, as one evolutionist put it, the “dawning of a new age.” (click above)

According to evolutionists, life began simple and gradually increased in complexity. Therefore early life should be simpler life. And so evolutionists have continually been surprised to find high complexity throughout the living world. As the research paper concluded:

Bacteria have long been considered simple relatives of eukaryotes. Obviously, this misperception must be modified. From the presence of a cytoskeleton to the packaging of DNA to the existence of multiple post-translational modifications, bacteria clearly implement highly sophisticated mechanisms to regulate diverse cellular processes precisely.

With evolution we now must believe that even protein acetylation miraculously appeared very early in the history of life. This would require (i) the enzymes to attach and remove the acetyl groups, (ii) the capability to attach those groups at the right place and under the right conditions, and (iii) of course right influence such that the presence of the acetyl groups produced the needed functional modification.

And all of this must have occurred spontaneously. As per evolutionary theory, the changes must have occurred at random. In other words, the need at hand could not have influenced the changes. Those astronomically unlikely, incredibly complex, changes must have arisen to create the phenomenal protein acetylation functionality, so that it then could be selected for. There is no scientific evidence for a long, gradual series of designs leading to this capability. Even for a single protein this evidence is lacking.  It is yet another example of dashed expectations even in this New Age.