Researchers build public “library” to help understand photosynthesis

_{Denyse O'Leary

March 19, 2019

Information, Intelligent Design, Plants}

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strains of algae growing in plastic plates /courtesy the researchers

It isn’t easy being green. It takes thousands of genes to build the photosynthetic machinery that plants need to harness sunlight for growth. And yet, researchers don’t know exactly how these genes work.
Now a team led by Princeton University researchers has constructed a public “library” to help researchers to find out what each gene does. Using the library, the team identified 303 genes associated with photosynthesis including 21 newly discovered genes with high potential to provide new insights into this life-sustaining biological process. The study was published online this week in Nature Genetics.
“The part of the plant responsible for photosynthesis is like a complex machine made up of many parts, and we want to understand what each part does,” said Martin Jonikas, assistant professor of molecular biology at Princeton. “This library, we hope, will be one of the foundations that people will build on to make the next generation of discoveries.” Paper. paywall – Xiaobo Li, Weronika Patena, Friedrich Fauser, Robert E. Jinkerson, Shai Saroussi, Moritz T. Meyer, Nina Ivanova, Jacob M. Robertson, Rebecca Yue, Ru Zhang, Josep Vilarrasa-Blasi, Tyler M. Wittkopp, Silvia Ramundo, Sean R. Blum, Audrey Goh, Matthew Laudon, Tharan Srikumar, Paul A. Lefebvre, Arthur R. Grossman and Martin C. Jonikas,. A genome-wide algal mutant library and functional screen identifies genes required for eukaryotic photosynthesis. Nature Genetics, 2019 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-019-0370-6 More.

Wait. “”The part of the plant responsible for photosynthesis is like a complex machine made up of many parts, … ” And machines just happen all by themselves, right? There is no information load to account for; it just evolved by natural selection acting on random mutation the way your Android did!

Before you go: In Nature: Cells have “secret conversations” We say this a lot: That’s a lot of information to have simply come into being by natural selection acting on random mutation (Darwinism). It’s getting not only ridiculous but obviously ridiculous.

Researchers: Helpful gut microbes send messages to their hosts If the strategy is clearly identified, they should look for non-helpful microbes that have found a way to copy it (horizontal gene transfer?)

Cells and proteins use sugars to talk to one another Cells are like Neanderthal man. They get smarter every time we run into them. And just think, it all just tumbled into existence by natural selection acting on random mutations (Darwinism) too…

Researchers: First animal cell was not simple; it could “transdifferentiate” From the paper: “… these analyses offer no support for the homology of sponge choanocytes and choanoflagellates, nor for the view that the first multicellular animals were simple balls of cells with limited capacity to differentiate.”

“Interspecies communication” strategy between gut bacteria and mammalian hosts’ genes described

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Altered Gene Regulatory Networks Are Associated With the Transition From C3 to Crassulacean Acid Metabolism in Erycina (Oncidiinae: Orchidaceae) Karolina Heyduk, Michelle Hwang, [...], and Jim Leebens-Mack Front Plant Sci. 2018; 9: 2000. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.02000
changes to transcriptional cascades are important for the transition from C3 to CAM photosynthesis in Erycina.
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The genetics of convergent evolution: insights from plant photosynthesis Karolina Heyduk, Jose J. Moreno-Villena, […]Erika J. Edwards Nature Reviews Genetics (2019)
The tree of life is resplendent with examples of convergent evolution, whereby distinct species evolve the same trait independently. Many highly convergent adaptations are also complex, which makes their repeated emergence surprising. In plants, the evolutionary history of two carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) — C4 and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis — presents such a paradox. Both of these modifications of ancestral C3 photosynthesis require the integration of multiple anatomical and biochemical components, yet together they have evolved more than one hundred times. The presence of CCM enzymes in all plants suggests that a rudimentary CCM might emerge via relatively few genetic changes in potentiated lineages. Here, we propose that many of the complexities often associated with C4 and CAM photosynthesis may have evolved during a post-emergence optimization phase. The ongoing development of new model clades for young, emerging CCMs is enabling the comparative studies needed to test these ideas.
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“It isn't easy being green. It takes thousands of genes to build the photosynthetic machinery that plants need to harness sunlight for growth. And yet, researchers don't know exactly how these genes work.” How did this evolve starting from OOL?jawa_{March 20, 2019
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Moreover, besides photosynthesis and human vision, non-local quantum correlations are now also found to be pervasive throughout molecular biology. In fact, quantum correlations are now found to be in both DNA and protein molecules as well as in a wide range of other important biomolecules:
Quantum criticality in a wide range of important biomolecules Excerpt: “Most of the molecules taking part actively in biochemical processes are tuned exactly to the transition point and are critical conductors,” they say. That’s a discovery that is as important as it is unexpected. “These findings suggest an entirely new and universal mechanism of conductance in biology very different from the one used in electrical circuits.” The permutations of possible energy levels of biomolecules is huge so the possibility of finding even one that is in the quantum critical state by accident is mind-bogglingly small and, to all intents and purposes, impossible.,, of the order of 10^-50 of possible small biomolecules and even less for proteins,”,,, “what exactly is the advantage that criticality confers?” https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/the-origin-of-life-and-the-hidden-role-of-quantum-criticality-ca4707924552
Moreover, these recent findings from quantum biology, as the following video clearly shows, falsifies the reductive materialistic foundation upon which Darwinian evolution itself is built:
Darwinian Materialism vs Quantum Biology - video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHdD2Am1g5Y
The finding of pervasive beyond space and time quantum correlations within molecular biology has some fairly obvious and profound implications. As Stuart Hameroff remarks in the following video, ' it's possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body. Perhaps indefinitely as a soul.
“Let’s say the heart stops beating. The blood stops flowing. The microtubules lose their quantum state. But the quantum information, which is in the microtubules, isn’t destroyed. It can’t be destroyed. It just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large. If a patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says, “I had a near death experience. I saw a white light. I saw a tunnel. I saw my dead relatives.,,” Now if they’re not revived and the patient dies, then it's possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body. Perhaps indefinitely as a soul.” - Stuart Hameroff - Quantum Entangled Consciousness - Life After Death - video (5:00 minute mark) https://youtu.be/jjpEc98o_Oo?t=300
Of course the committed atheist will never admit to such obvious and profound implications from quantum biology, but, as a Christian Theist, I am very pleased with the obvious and profound implications that quantum biology has brought forth.
Mark 8:37 Is anything worth more than your soul?
As Job 12: 9-10 stated thousands of years before the science of quantum biology ever came along,,,, "Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.,,,”
Job 12: 9-10 "Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.,,,”
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Of related note: The following video states at the 4:00 minute mark,,, “These specific frequencies of light (that enable plants to manufacture food and astronomers to observe the cosmos) represent less than 1 trillionth of a trillionth (10^-24) of the universe’s entire range of electromagnetic emissions.”
4:00 minute mark,,, “These specific frequencies of light (that enable plants to manufacture food and astronomers to observe the cosmos) represent less than 1 trillionth of a trillionth (10^-24) of the universe’s entire range of electromagnetic emissions.” Privileged Planet (Chapter 9 of 12) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quhucmOAdss
In the following article, the author points out that for photosynthesis to occur, 'light must be of the right color. Light of the wrong color won't do the trick'. ,,, and the article further goes on to state “There was only one chance in 10^25 of the Sun's providing just the right kind of light necessary for us,,,”
The " just right " relationship of the light spectrum and photosynthesis Excerpt: The American astronomer George Greenstein discusses this in The Symbiotic Universe, p 96: Chlorophyll is the molecule that accomplishes photosynthesis... The mechanism of photosynthesis is initiated by the absorption of sunlight by a chlorophyll molecule. But in order for this to occur, the light must be of the right color. Light of the wrong color won't do the trick.,,, The harmony between stellar and molecular physics that Greenstein refers to is a harmony too extraordinary ever to be explained by chance. There was only one chance in 10^25 of the Sun's providing just the right kind of light necessary for us and that there should be molecules in our world that are capable of using that light. This perfect harmony is unquestionably proof of Intelligent Design. http://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1545-origin-and-evolution-of-photosynthesis
Moreover, the efficiency of photosynthesis trounces any machine man has ever built in terms of efficiency. The following study found that ‘Certain biological systems living in low light environments have unique protein structures for photosynthesis that use quantum dynamics to convert 100% of absorbed light into electrical charge,,,’
Unlocking nature's quantum engineering for efficient solar energy - January 7, 2013 Excerpt: Certain biological systems living in low light environments have unique protein structures for photosynthesis that use quantum dynamics to convert 100% of absorbed light into electrical charge,,, These biological systems can direct a quantum process, in this case energy transport, in astoundingly subtle and controlled ways – showing remarkable resistance to the aggressive, random background noise of biology and extreme environments. http://phys.org/news/2013-01-nature-quantum-efficient-solar-energy.html
Whereas, on the other hand, the very best solar panels ever tested in a lab (i.e., not the ones actually available for sale and installation on your house) are only able to convert about 34% of the light that hits them into electricity.,
What's quantum physics got to do with biology? - June 2012 Excerpt: certain bacteria can capture 95% of the light that hits them and turn it into useful energy. Solar panels also convert light from the Sun into energy—but they aren't nearly as good at it. The very best solar panels ever tested in a lab (i.e., not the ones actually available for sale and installation on your house) were able to convert about 34% of the light that hit them into electricity.,, Why can't we use the Sun's energy as effectively as bacteria can? The secret may be that the bacteria are using quantum physics to transmit energy. http://boingboing.net/2012/06/01/quantum-biology.html
In the following article entitled 'Uncovering Quantum Secret in Photosynthesis' we find that such stunning efficiency for photosynthesis is accomplished via a quantum process. Specifically, the researcher stated, "These results show that coherence, a genuine quantum effect of superposition of states, is responsible for maintaining high levels of transport efficiency in biological systems, even while they adapt their energy transport pathways due to environmental influences"
Uncovering Quantum Secret in Photosynthesis - June 20, 2013 Excerpt: Photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and some bacteria, have mastered this process: In less than a couple of trillionths of a second, 95 percent of the sunlight they absorb is whisked away to drive the metabolic reactions that provide them with energy. The efficiency of photovoltaic cells currently on the market is around 20 percent.,,, Van Hulst and his group have evaluated the energy transport pathways of separate individual but chemically identical, antenna proteins, and have shown that each protein uses a distinct pathway. The most surprising discovery was that the transport paths within single proteins can vary over time due to changes in the environmental conditions, apparently adapting for optimal efficiency. "These results show that coherence, a genuine quantum effect of superposition of states, is responsible for maintaining high levels of transport efficiency in biological systems, even while they adapt their energy transport pathways due to environmental influences" says van Hulst. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130620142932.htm
It is also important to realize that this quantum coherence found in molecular biology is, like quantum entanglement, a 'non-local' effect. And when a quantum system is said to be in a non-local state that means that “quantum correlations are somehow arising from outside spacetime, in the sense that no story in space and time can describe them,”
Looking beyond space and time to cope with quantum theory – 29 October 2012 Excerpt: “Our result gives weight to the idea that quantum correlations somehow arise from outside spacetime, in the sense that no story in space and time can describe them,” http://www.quantumlah.org/highlight/121029_hidden_influences.php
And obviously it is necessary for us to appeal to a 'beyond space and time' cause in order to explain the quote unquote 'non-local' effect we are witnessing. Atheists simply have no 'beyond space and time' cause that they can appeal to. Whereas I, on the other hand, as a Christian, do have a 'beyond space and time' cause that I can appeal to:
Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Besides photosynthesis, human vision is also found to be a quantum process. As the following article states,, the Human Eye’s Ability to Detect Single Photons,,, is a quantum mechanism and is governed by the laws of quantum physics.
Quantum Biometrics Exploits the Human Eye’s Ability to Detect Single Photons - April 25, 2017 Excerpt: The new technique is based on the well-known ability of the human eye to detect single photons. Our light-detection machinery relies on rhodopsin molecules in retinal rod cells to detect single photons and then on a complex mechanism of phototransduction to send this signal to the brain. Experiments dating back to the 1940s show that humans can become aware of a flash of light containing just a handful of photons. This photon detection process is a quantum mechanism and is governed by the laws of quantum physics. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604266/quantum-biometrics-exploits-the-human-eyes-ability-to-detect-single-photons/
In the following article commenting on the ability of the human eye to detect a single photon, William Bialek, who is a professor of physics at Princeton University, remarked that photoreceptor cells that carpet the retinal tissue of the eye and respond to light, are not just good or great or phabulous at their job. They are not merely exceptionally impressive by the standards of biology,,, Photoreceptors operate at the outermost boundary allowed by the laws of physics, which means they are as good as they can be, period.
William Bialek: More Perfect Than We Imagined - March 23, 2013 Excerpt: photoreceptor cells that carpet the retinal tissue of the eye and respond to light, are not just good or great or phabulous at their job. They are not merely exceptionally impressive by the standards of biology, with whatever slop and wiggle room the animate category implies. Photoreceptors operate at the outermost boundary allowed by the laws of physics, which means they are as good as they can be, period. Each one is designed to detect and respond to single photons of light — the smallest possible packages in which light comes wrapped. “Light is quantized, and you can’t count half a photon,” said William Bialek, a professor of physics and integrative genomics at Princeton University. “This is as far as it goes.” … In each instance, biophysicists have calculated, the system couldn’t get faster, more sensitive or more efficient without first relocating to an alternate universe with alternate physical constants. http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2013/03/william-bialek-more-perfect-than-we.html
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