An Alternative to Evolution: bacterial species combination (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, September 04, 2020, 14:50 (1539 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

Two bacterial species fuse together and become one new one:

https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2020/september/eleftherios-papoutsakis-bacterial-fusion/

"...researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered that bacteria do more than just work together. Bacterial cells from different species can combine into unique hybrid cells by fusing their cell walls and membranes and sharing cellular contents, including proteins and ribonucleic acid (RNA), the molecules which regulate gene expression and control cell metabolism. In other words, the organisms exchange material and lose part of their own identity in the process.

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"These species of bacteria work together in a syntrophic system, producing metabolites that are mutually beneficial to each other’s survival.

"The team found that C. ljungdahlii invades C. acetobutylicum. The two organisms combine cell walls and membranes and exchange proteins and RNA to form hybrid cells, some of which continue to divide and in fact differentiate into the characteristic sporulation program.

“'They mix their machinery to survive or do metabolism, and that’s kind of extraordinary, because we always assumed that each and every organism has its own independent identity and machinery,” said Papoutsakis.

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"Although this phenomenon of interspecies microbial fusion is now being reported for the first time, it is likely ubiquitous in nature among many bacterial pairs.

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"The team’s findings may influence understanding of the evolution of biology because once bacterial species share machinery, they can evolve together instead of only evolving on their own, said Papoutsakis."

Comment: This is not evolution in the normally understood definition, but another way of advancing living forms. It is an advanced form of horizontal gene transfer, a method I think was provided by design.