This post initially started out as
analysis of an article posted on True Origins, a creationist apologetics
website, written by
L.M. Spetner (a.k.a. Lee Spetner) as rebuttal to an evolutionist’s claim that gene duplications, the seeming increase in hereditary variations
within living organisms, and the rise of genetic adaptations that enable any
given form of life to adapt to certain environmental conditions constitute as
increases in genetic information that was not previously present in the DNA of
the organism.
In that article, he explained well the processes and mechanisms that
take place within the genome that account for the genetic variations and
adaptive traits observed in living things
but towards the end of his article, he undermined his own refutation
when he stated that, “The B lymphocytes of the vertebrate immune system do
indeed generate information through random mutations and selection” [1] which evolutionists could interpret as
meaning the arise of new genetic information not previously present within the
genetic system and for those of you out there who do not know what B
lymphocytes are, they are a vital part of the immune system.
Spetner stated that the information generated by the B lymphocytes is
produced by way of what he called “hyper mutations” [2] that are confined to a small portion of the
B-cell and which are produced at a rate a million times higher than what might
be observed in the rest of the genome.
He then went on to state that by way of this hypermutation rate, the B
lymphocytes produce “an enormous number of potential antibodies until it yields
one that matches an invading pathogen. Once a match is found, the matching
antibody is cloned millions of times to be attached to the invading pathogens
to mark them selectively for destruction.” [3]
While I certainly do not dispute this mechanism, the process and
mechanism that Spetner described is not a generation of information that was
not previously present within the DNA or genome but rather a recombination of
information already present within the B lymphocytes that enables them to do
the important work that they do in fending our bodies off from sickness and
disease.
But his article did reveal something else to me that I felt I needed
to takes some time to investigate and give attention to. In his piece he mentions how almost all
bacterial resistance to antibiotics comes not from an increase in information
in their respective genomes and DNA themselves, but through a process called
Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) which is when an organism such as a bacteria
acquires genetic material from any given source, including other bacteria, and
incorporates it into its own and what is so significant about this is not just
about how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics but what it may also mean
for the origins of life altogether.
A challenge for evolutionists has been to demonstrate how complex
organisms could have evolved from organisms much less complex; in other words,
how plants, animals, and mankind could have evolved from simple celled
organisms.
In order for one kind of life to evolve from another, that requires a
production of genetic material that was not previously present but
evolutionists have not been able to offer any satisfying explanation for how
AaBa can produce WKRPINCINCINNATTI which is what would have to happen in order
for evolution to take place, but now some evolutionists have proposed that
increased complexity may not have necessarily come about by random mutations
alone, but also by some way of Horizontal Gene Transfer between different
organisms, and not just between organisms that are related to one another but
also between organisms that are not considered related to each other. An article from the National Library of Health states:
Flexibility in the exchange of genetic material takes place between
different organisms of the same or different species. This phenomenon is known
to play a key role in the genetic, physiological, and ecological performance of
the host. Exchange of genetic materials can cause both beneficial and/or
adverse biological consequences. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or lateral gene
transfer (LGT) as a general mechanism leads to biodiversity and biological
innovations in nature. [4]
For those of you out there who are not familiar with the process of Horizontal
Gene Transfer (HGT), there are three ways that this can take place as explained
by the following from an item from Maricopa Colleges:
1. Transformation: Bacteria take up
free or “naked” DNA released from other lysed cells in their environment. This
process requires the recipient cell to be in a state of competence, allowing
DNA binding, uptake, and subsequent integration into its genome, often via homologous
recombination.
2. Transduction: Genetic material is transferred from a donor bacterium to a
recipient bacterium via a bacteriophage (a virus that infects bacteria). During
phage replication, bacterial DNA can be mistakenly packaged into new phage
particles. Generalized transduction allows any bacterial gene to be
transferred, while specialized transduction involves the transfer of specific
genes located near the phage integration site in the bacterial chromosome.
3. Conjugation: DNA is transferred directly from a donor cell to a recipient cell
through cell-to-cell contact, often referred to as bacterial “mating.” This
process typically involves a conjugative plasmid (like the F-plasmid), which
codes for the formation of a sex pilus that initiates contact and a mating
bridge for DNA transfer via rolling circle replication. High-frequency
recombination (Hfr) cells, with the plasmid integrated into their chromosome,
can also transfer chromosomal DNA. [5]
Because bacteria are able to acquire genetic information from their
surrounding environment and transmit genetic information with one another,
evolutionists, based on that fact have theorized that Horizontal Gene Transfer
may also explain how life evolved from single-celled organisms into more
complex forms of life but Creationists dispute this assumption for several
reasons. Geneticist Jeffery P. Tompkins
of the Institute For Creation Research (ICR) explains in a rebuttal
argue to a study written and then posted on a science publication called Genome
Biology:
in a…published study, the researchers claim that "HGT has
contributed to the evolution of many, perhaps all, animals and that the process
is on-going in most lineages."
The amazing thing about this statement is that it is a big
hypothetical fairy tale. In this study, the researchers failed to prove any
portion of this extravagant statement, nor did they show any specific mechanism
for how HGT could have happened. In fact, the whole study was seriously flawed
on a variety of key fronts.
First, the researchers found unique genes in a variety of fruit flies,
worms, primates, and humans that had no clear evolutionary ancestry. In other
words, each of these genes is specific to a certain type of creature.
Scientists have previously termed these "orphan genes"—a unique type
of gene that provides a clear anti-evolutionary enigma I have discussed in
previous reports.
Some claim these novel orphan sequences evolved suddenly out of
non-coding DNA while others, such as the authors of this new report, claim they
were derived from HGT.
The major problem with claiming that these alleged HGT genes are
imported or "foreign" (i.e., transferred into the genome from some
other creature), is that many of them encode important enzymatic proteins and
are key parts of the interconnected gene networks and complex biochemical
pathways that are essential to the very life of the organism. The researchers
stated, "The majority of these genes are concerned with metabolism."
Clearly, the genes are not foreign at all, but designed to function as key
parts of essential biologically complex systems.
Second, the approach to supposedly identifying many of the foreign
genes in animals as microbial in origin was not even based on actual complete
gene sequence, but depended upon isolated regions of similarity in the proteins
they encode. [6]
Genome biology did admit that genes
allegedly acquired through HGT mainly regulate enzyme and metabolic activity [7] and, not only that but also with immune
system regulation [8] and if
that is the case, then any genes transmitted from bacteria to other organisms
does not necessarily result in increased information or complexity.
It also admitted that only orthologus genes (that is genes shared in
common, even by organisms unrelated to one another though not necessarily
identical) were included in the study [9] in which case a complete and accurate picture is not given and whenever
any genetic material is excluded from genetic comparison studies, the integrity
of the results of the study are understandably and rightfully questioned and
they should be questioned and even challenged.
Tompkins also pointed out that:
In mammals, genes are quite complex, and on average only about 10% of
the entire gene sequence actually codes for protein, the rest contains a large
diversity of regulatory sequences that determine how the gene is to function
and its various types of products. In contrast, microbial genes are typically
much less complex and lack these intricate and intervening regulatory regions
found in animal genes. [10]
In all honesty, microbial genes are far less complex than those of not
only mammals, but even plants, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and
birds
Horizontal Gene Transfer has only been observed to take place amongst microbial
organisms but has not necessarily been observed to take place among non-microbial
forms of life, at least not nearly to the same degree as is found in microbial life, but it has been assumed and theorized by evolutionists that microbes
are able to take from or transfer to non-microbial organism genetic information
which is why they are resorting to the claim that HGT may be what causes one
form of life to evolve from another, but just as they cannot explain how genetic
information can be produced that was never produced before by the copying and
recombination of existing genetic information itself, they still cannot explain
as to how genes that regulate and determine metabolic and enzyme activity and
regulate the immune system could ever cause bacteria to produce a man.
In order for HGT to produce a man from bacteria, the amount of genetic
information possessed and transmitted between single-celled organisms would have
to practically be limitless and not only that, there would already have to be a
vast diversity of different organisms, and if that were the case, then that would
mean that life did not arise from a common ancestor, but from several common
ancestors, which would then require a vast diversity of microbial organisms to
evolve simultaneously but that is only with the assumption that there is no
limitation as to what genetic material can be transferred and incorporated into
the genome and DNA of the receiving organism and no limitation of the function
of the genetic information being acquired but even evolutionists have admitted
that there are compatibility and conditional limits to HGT. The Oxford Academic publication
explains:
We find HGT is not random, but depends critically upon internal and
environmental factors…internal and external environmental factors strongly
influence which genetic material a prokaryote may acquire by HGT. The positive
associativity of some of the parameters tested here is readily understood. For
example, prokaryotes preferentially acquire genes from other prokaryotes when
both live in the same oxygenic environments because there are many enzymes that
do not function in the presence, or absence, of oxygen…
Similarly, temperature differences can restrict HGT. In the case of a
gene being transferred from a mesophilic environment to a thermophilic one,
restriction may be due to the inactivation of mesophilic proteins at higher
temperatures. In the reverse direction, a thermophilic protein may not function
due to the need for higher temperatures for enzyme catalysis. Also, naked DNA
is much more labile at higher temperatures, hampering the circulation of
mesophilic DNA lacking thermal protective mechanisms within high temperature
environments.
The mode of harnessing energy (carbon utilization) also has a
restrictive influence on HGT. Heterotrophs prefer to exchange genes with each
other, as do autotrophs, perhaps because the opportunity to utilize a novel
carbon source may be advantageous. [11]
Not only would microbial life have to be vastly genetically diverse
from the start, not only could there be no limitations on what genes could be
shared, but they would have all had to have existed in an environment with
which all existing microbes at the time of their evolution would be compatible and
the extent of their ability to exchange genetic information with each other and
to acquire genetic information within their surrounding environment would
depend on the extent of their compatibility with one another, the temperature
of their environment would have to enable, not restrict, HGT but at present,
HGT faces two barriers:
1. Microbes will not receive
and exchange genetic information with just any other microbe because not all
microbes are compatible with each other and if they are not compatible with
each other, then they will not exchange information with each other.
2. The temperature of the earth
is not presently uniform. In environments
in which temperatures are too cold, the proteins necessary to enable HGT will
not be activated and in environments where temperatures may be too hot, the
enzymes that are also needed for HGT may be prevented from functioning; in
either case, HGT will be limited only to those microbes of the respective environment
in which they live; they will not be able to exchange genetic information with
microbes of an environment different from theirs.
And just because genes can be transmitted from one organism to
another, that doesn’t necessarily mean that which is transferred is going to benefit
the recipient or lead to an adaptation.
According to the National Library of Medicine:
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or lateral gene transfer (LGT) as a
general mechanism leads to biodiversity and biological innovations in nature.
HGT mediators are one of the genetic engineering tools used for selective
introduction of desired changes in the genome for gene/cell therapy purposes.
HGT, however, is crucial in development, emergence, and recurrence of various
human-related diseases, such as cancer, genetic, metabolic, and
neurodegenerative disorders and can negatively affect the therapeutic outcome
by promoting resistant forms or disrupting the performance of genome editing
toolkits…
LINEs (L1) as the only active TEs in the human genome are involved in
the development and progression of various human diseases by activating
otherwise silent promoters and/or promoting the deregulated expression of
oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.
Besides cancer, TEs are also implicated in the pathogenesis of various
well-known genetic, metabolic, and neurological diseases. Moreover, LINE
insertion which promotes genomic instability may pose a threat to the biosafety
of stem cells which serve as valuable resources for regenerative medicine and
cell-based therapies…
Also, newly discovered HGT mediators in mammalian cells including
vesicular particles (EVs), apoptotic bodies, and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) are
involved in different stages of cancer development and progression, as well as
anti-cancer drug resistance and therapy failure. [12]
While HGT may be beneficial to bacteria and other microbial forms of
life, when bacteria attempt to transfer genetic material to non-microbial
lifeforms, the results are more often harmful than not harmful and may be the cause
of a variety of different ailments; even ones that can prove fatal but what
makes HGT beneficial for microbial lifeforms is that since they reproduce
asexually, HGT enables them to maintain diversity in their gene pool in order
for the microbial species to be preserved.
If it were not for HGT, microbes would only be able to pass down to
their offspring traits that they possess, resulting in the offspring being an
exact copy or clone of their parent, but that also means that any error or
corruption within the reproduction process that occurs within the inherited DNA
will also be passed down to the next generation, and if enough errors and
corruptions accumulate within the inherited DNA, that could result in the eventual
extinction of the lifeform because there would be nothing to override or cancel
out those errors and corruptions as there would be with creatures that produce
offspring through sexual reproduction.
By being able to receive and exchange genetic information from their
surrounding environment, other bacteria, and even other microbes such as bacteriophages,
which are viruses that infect bacteria, bacteria are able to override and even
cancel out any errors or corruptions within their own DNA so that they can
continue producing viable offspring as it is this genetic diversity that
enables them to adapt to environmental conditions and become immune to poisons,
antibiotics, and other elements by which they might otherwise be rendered off,
just as genetic diversity within each kind of non-microbial lifeform also
enables them to adjust and adapt to different environmental conditions and
build up immunities to various diseases and even poisons by which they would
otherwise be killed, but unlike each species within each kind of non-microbial
life forms, genetic comparisons of bacteria that are of the same kind and
species may appear far more different from one another than a genetic
comparison between a wolf and even given dog breed which would appear almost
identical. Dr. Georgia Purdom of Answers
In Genesis explains:
For just about any species other than bacteria, if you sequence the
genome (the DNA present in the nucleus) of one member of the species, it will
be very similar to every other member of that species. For example, my DNA is
only 0.1% different from that of each person reading this article. This
similarity allows scientists to talk about the human genome as opposed to human
genomes.
But for just about any bacterial species, if you sequence the genome
of one strain, it will likely be very different from other strains within that
same species. In fact if you sequence 20 different strains, you will find many
genes unique to only one strain! [13]
In other words, the DNA of a wolf and even a poodle will appear almost
identical whereas the DNA of two bacteria of the same kind and species will
appear very different from each other due to Horizontal Gene Transfer
frequently taking place among them but in spite of this, each kind of species of
bacteria still retains a core base of genes.
Purdom explains further:
Consider the example of Escherichia coli, a common gut bacterium. The
genome of each strain consists of approximately 5,000 genes. About 2,200 of
those genes are found in virtually every other strain of E. coli sequenced.
These genes (and the proteins produced from them), called core genes, are
considered housekeeping genes and are needed by every strain for basic cellular
functions. The remaining 2,800 genes are specific to that strain and called
accessory or adaptive genes. These genes help it adapt and function in a
specific environment. For example, a study that compared proteins produced by
two harmful strains and one harmless strain of E. coli found that nearly 40% of
the proteins produced by all three strains were the same, but 47% of the
proteins were produced by only one strain.
The same basic 2,200 genes appear in virtually every E. coli. Called
core genes, these perform basic functions necessary for every cell. The
remaining 2,800 genes appear in only some E. coli. Called accessory or adaptive
genes, they help different bacteria survive in different environments. [14]
These accessory or adaptive genes may be helpful in enabling bacteria
to adjust and adapt to different environmental conditions, in building up
immunity to various toxins and poisons, and useful in the preservation of the
lifeform, but it will never be enough to cause man to evolve from a microbe which
is why E. coli will always be E. coli why amoebas will always be amoebas. Purdom continues on to state:
Despite its wonderful flexibility, bacterial adaptation doesn’t change
a bacterium into a completely different kind of organism because it doesn’t
result in the origin of novel genetic information needed for this type of
change. In the case of bacteria, it is the alteration or exchange of
pre-existing genetic information.
Mutations and natural selection have never been observed to originate
novel information of the type necessary for molecules-to-man evolution. [15]
Just as non-microbial life cannot pass traits down to offspring for
which they don’t have the genetic potential, neither can microbial life. They can only pass down to their offspring
what they already possess. They cannot
pass genetic potential they don’t possess.
The odds of evolution occurring through Horizontal Gene Transfer are
virtually none for several reasons.
1. There would have to be a
vast diversity of microbial lifeforms from the very start which means
essentially, they would all start out reproducing after their own kind just as
the book of Genesis declares that all life was created to do (Gen. 1:12, 21, 24-25)
because in order for non-microbial life to evolve from microbial life, the genetic
potential for such would have to be present which would be impossible without a
diverse array of microbes.
2. The ability for microbes to acquire
and exchange information with each other would have to be limitless, but
microbes will not share genetic information they possess or acquire with just
any other microbe. They will only share
and exchange genetic information with compatible subjects.
3. There could be no
environmental barriers to hinder HGT. The
environmental conditions would have to be such so as to enable the proteins and
enzymes which need to function in order for HGT to occur and especially if HGT
is to occur between microbes that would otherwise be living in different
environments.
4. Non-microbial forms of life
such as plants, animals, and even people possess an immensely higher degree of
complexity than microbial lifeforms which means non-microbial life forms
possess genes that microbial forms of life do not possess and vice versa and in
order for evolution to be possible, there must be an increase in complexity
which requires an increase in information, but microbes, no how many diverse
kinds there may be, like any other kind of life, cannot pass on what they do
not possess. Horizontal Gene Transfers
do not produce genetic information that does not already exist. All it does is move existing genetic
information around and from one source to another.
Evolutionists have yet to even propose a mechanism for how microbes
and DNA formed from a source that did not already have the potential for it in
the first place.
5. And even when bacteria do manage
to transfer genetic material to a non-microbial host, that doesn’t mean that it
will benefit or produce an adaptive trait in the host organism. Such transfer attempts end up being harmful far
more often than beneficial or helpful.
Bacteria and microbes, despite acquiring and exchanging a wide range
of genetic information, still continue to reproduce after their own kinds just
as all other forms of life do because that is what God intended for all things
to do.
End notes:
1. Dr. Lee Spetner, “Evolutionists'
Confusion over Mutations
and Information Put to Rest,” True Origin
https://trueorigin.org/spetner3.php
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4.
Melissa Emamalipour, Khaled Seidi, Sepideh Zununi Vahed, Ali
Jahanban-Esfahlan, Mehdi Jaymand, Hasan Majdi, Zohreh Amoozgar, L T Chitkushev,
Tahereh Javaheri, Rana Jahanban-Esfahlan, Peyman Zare, “Horizontal Gene
Transfer: From Evolutionary Flexibility to Disease Progression,” National Library
of Medicine, May 19, 2020
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7248198/
5. “Horizontal Gene Transfer,”
Maricopa Community Colleges
https://open.maricopa.edu/microbialgenetics/chapter/horizontal-gene-transfer/
6.
Jeffrey P. Tompkins, Ph.D., “Another Horizontal Gene Transfer Fairy Tale,”
Institute For Creation Research, April 6, 2015
https://www.icr.org/content/another-horizontal-gene-transfer-fairy-tale
7.
Alastair Crisp, Chiara Boschetti, Malcolm Perry, Alan Tunnacliffe, and
Gos Micklem, “Expression of multiple horizontally acquired genes is a hallmark
of both vertebrate and invertebrate genomes,” Genome Biology, March 13, 2025
https://web.archive.org/web/20150314130048/http://genomebiology.com/2015/16/1/50
8. Ibid.
9.
Ibid.
10.
Tompkins, ., “Another Horizontal Gene Transfer Fairy Tale,” Institute
For Creation Research, April 6, 2015
11. Ravi Jain , Maria C. Rivera , Jonathan E.
Moore , and James A. Lake, “Horizontal Gene Transfer Accelerates Genome
Innovation and Evolution,” Oxford Academy, October 1, 2003
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/20/10/1598/1163979
12. “Horizontal Gene Transfer: From Evolutionary Flexibility to
Disease Progression,” National Library of Medicine, May 19, 2020
13.
Dr. Georgia Purdom, “Bacteria’s Unique Design—Pooling Resources,”
Answers In Genesis, December 14, 2014
https://answersingenesis.org/biology/microbiology/bacterias-unique-design-pooling-resources/
14.
Ibid.
15.
Ibid.
Scripture references:
1.
Genesis 1:12, 14, 24-25
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