As Francis Bacon pointed out so long ago, a key strategy in scientific research is to narrow the problem. Remove unknowns, freeze variables and pare back extraneous components. Often the best way to learn how nature works is to focus in and isolate one aspect of the problem. Once that aspect is understood, then freeze it and move on to the next. So when it comes to figuring out how the living cell works, one strategy is to begin with the simplest of cells to be found in nature. Enter Mycoplasma pneumoniae—a bacteria that causes a type of pneumonia.
Prokaryotes are far simpler then eukaryotes, and M. pneumoniae has one of the smallest genomes of the prokaryotes. Such small prokaryotes are a good starting point in the search for the minimal cell.
What is the difference between a living and dead cell? What functions and components are crucial and exactly what do they do? Constructing a minimal cell is a good step toward answering questions such as these.
There’s only one problem: M. pneumoniae is enormously complex.
Evolutionists expected that small bacteria such as M. pneumoniae, like a stripped down machine, would be simpler than the larger cells. But the tiny bacteria’s protein machines, metabolic reactions and DNA transcripts are all sophisticated and reveal fascinating novelties. As one evolutionist admitted:
At all three levels, we found M. pneumoniae was more complex than we expected.
Another evolutionist agreed with similar sentiment:
There were a lot of surprises, Although it's a very tiny genome, it's much more complicated than we thought.
And what are these surprises? Here are some of the novelties discovered:
● Many of M. pneumoniae’s molecules are multifunctional.
● M. pneumoniae’s transcribed DNS is much more similar to that of eukaryotes. As in eukaryotes, a large proportion of the transcripts produced from M. pneumoniae's DNA are not translated into proteins.
● M. pneumoniae’s gene expression is more complex than expected.
● M. pneumoniae is incredibly flexible and readily adjusts its metabolism to drastic changes in environmental conditions. This adaptability and its underlying regulatory mechanisms mean M. pneumoniae has the potential to adapt quickly.
It is exactly the opposite of what evolution would expect. Rather than an evolutionary pattern, M. pneumoniae designs are unique, novel, sophisticated and finely-tuned.
