Claim CB200.5:
The metabolic pathway for AMP synthesis is too complex to have evolved.
It requires several intermediate steps, and it is highly improbable that
all of the steps could have evolved simultaneously.
Source:
Behe, Michael J., 1996. Darwin's Black Box, New York: The Free Press,
pp. 140-160.
Response:
- Although AMP synthesis is done in several steps in modern life, several
steps are not required. In fact, adenosine can and does form entirely
outside of life, both in aqueous solution (Ferris et al. 1984) and in
space (Kuzicheva and Gontareva 2002). The earliest life could have used
prebiotic AMP and later have gradually developed and refined mechanisms
for synthesizing AMP itself.
Irreducible complexity itself is no
obstacle
to evolution.
References:
- Ferris, J. P., H. Yanagawa, P. A. Dudgeon, W. J. Hagan Jr., and
T. E. Mallare, 1984. The investigation of the HCN derivative
diiminosuccinonitrile as a prebiotic condensing agent. The formation of
phosphate esters. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere
15:
29-43.
- Kuzicheva, E. A. and N. B. Gontareva, 2002. Prebiotic synthesis of
nucleotides at the Earth orbit in presence of Lunar soil. Advances in
Space Research 30(6): 1525-1531.
created 2003-8-27
