Clarity and Confusion

Book Reviews Clarity and confusion to overcome various antibiotics, such A review of as chloroquine, and humans have The Edge of Evolution: mutated to generate some measure of The Search for the resistance to malaria (e.g., sickle cell, Limits of Darwinism thalassemia). by Michael J. Behe Behe shows that all the cases of Free Press, New York, adaptation, in both Plasmodium and NY, 2007 humans, are due to breaking things, not creating new complex features. For example, chloroquine resistance Don Batten in Plasmodium is due to a fault in a transport protein that moves the poison his new book by Michael Behe, a into the organism’s vacuole. Behe Tfollow-up to Darwin’s Black Box likens the struggle to trench warfare, (DBB), has created somewhat of a where the defending forces will destroy storm amongst the faithful defenders their own bridge, or blow up a road, of Darwin such as Richard Dawkins, to impede the enemy’s advance. It is Jerry Coyne and Kenneth Miller. They not really an arms race, because in an arms race the opposing forces invent came out with all guns blazing to try overcoming other anti-malarials has to destroy the credibility of this book, new weapons, but the natural processes (‘evolution’) operating in Plasmodium only needed one mutation for each presumably hoping that their dismissive one. This seems like a reasonable vitriol would cause potential readers to and humans have not invented new weapons. explanation for the relative resilience skip reading it. Dawkins claimed that of chloroquine over time compared to Behe had completely departed from the Chloroquine resistance—a other anti-malarials. message of DBB, but Behe rightly says relatively rare occurrence From this observation, Behe (p. 7), ‘my conclusions are ultimately Plasmodium, as a microbe, achieves calculates, using the estimates of the same’. Plasmodium population numbers and As far as the science goes, Behe’s huge populations and chloroquine has been around many years. This means generations provided by evolutionists, book is well worth reading; Behe the probability of resistance requiring argues very cogently that random that the parasite has had plenty of opportunity to undergo significant two mutations to occur where one is not mutations and natural selection are 20 evolution, as the larger the total number helpful. One in 10 parasites will have capable of very little (hence ‘the edge of organisms, the more mutations that chloroquine resistance (p .59). A very of evolution’) and cannot explain the 12 can be experimented with by natural sick person will have 10 parasites major features of living organisms. selection. and if a billion people per year were Natural processes can explain variety at 21 However, resistance to chloroquine infected, this gives 10 parasites, the level of species and perhaps genus has only arisen relatively infrequently; which means we would expect at least and family and maybe order, but major it lasted a decade before resistance one person per year to be infected by class features and above are beyond appeared. This contrasts with a parasite that has acquired resistance the reach of natural processes. These resistance to other anti-malarials, to chloroquine. These calculations are features demand intelligent design. which has shown up within weeks of consistent with the observed resilience But that’s where Behe’s reasoning falls their first use. Behe points out that of chloroquine. apart: he becomes quite incoherent as resistance to chloroquine involves 4–8 to what he means by intelligent design. Slow-coach humans amino acids in a membrane transport But more on that later. protein (a ‘pump’). It seems to have Compared to Plasmodium, humans are boring when it comes to the Clarity arisen on four separate occasions. Two particular amino acid changes evolutionary possibilities, because Behe’s major argument as to where seem to be common (residues 76 and of our relatively small population the edge of evolution lies (what random 220), so two mutations seem to be and long generation times. Behe mutations can and cannot achieve), needed in the one gene. One mutation calculates, assuming the evolutionary revolves mainly around the malaria apparently does not generate any timescale (which he does not question), parasite. He analyses the interaction resistance to chloroquine, or must be the maximum total number of humans between humans and Plasmodium compensated by a second mutation to since the supposed split from chimps falciparum. Plasmodium has mutated overcome deleterious effects, whereas as 1012 individuals. Therefore it would 28 JOURNAL OF CREATION 22(1) 2008 Book Reviews take a billion years to have a chance with no secondary structure and have modifications’ (Darwin) because it has of getting a double mutation like that no interaction with other proteins. All some 200 different protein components. needed for chloroquine resistance in they have to do is interact with water Not only the components have to be Plasmodium. In other words, anything molecules to inhibit crystallization. explained, many of which are peculiar more difficult than this would never They are of different lengths, from to the cilium, but also their precision happen in a human-like organism. different genes, and can be regarded as assembly. Exciting discoveries since Sickle cell trait, which requires a the accumulation of ‘genetic debris’ DBB make the problem even worse for specific nucleotide change (mutation), that happens to be adaptive. He Darwinian naturalism, particularly the has arisen de novo only a few times in likens it to various pieces of wood, realisation that intra-flagellar transport human history. However, thalassemia, bark and leaves creating a dam in a (IFT) occurs (transport of proteins which merely requires the breaking of creek: it can be done incrementally, within the flagellum itself) and is a hemoglobin gene, for which there and almost anything will do to add necessary for cilium functionality. IFT are many ways to achieve this, has to the dam. This is the sort of thing entails the active movement of protein arisen hundreds of times. Again these that random changes can achieve. components, by linear motors called frequencies are consistent with the As Behe says, ‘Rare examples such kinesins ‘walking’ along microtubules, probabilities of mutations in a human- as the Antarctic fish set Darwinian for repair of the cilium tip, so that like population. ‘Evolution’ (mutations pulses racing. But to more sceptical each cilium is continuously rebuilt. and natural selection) is quite able to observers, they underscore the limits Mutations that break IFT result in non- do this sort of thing. of random mutation rather than its viability because cilia are necessary for If one in 1020 malaria parasites will potential.’ Behe quotes one group of such things as embryo development have a double mutation, the chances anti-freeze researchers: ‘A number of and eye and kidney function. Behe of getting two such double mutations dissimilar proteins have adapted to the says, ‘IFT exponentially increases the would be one in 1040. But this exceeds task of binding ice. This is atypical of difficulty of explaining the irreducibly the total number of cells that have protein evolution’ (p. 82). complex cilium’ (p. 94). existed on earth in the billions of years He also revisits the bacterial Revisiting irreducible complexity that life is supposed to have existed. flagellum, which is comprised of about In other words, evolution could never Behe revisits the cilium (pp. 84–96), three dozen proteins (figure 1). Much achieve this. This is basically ‘the discussed in Darwin’s Black Box as an more has also been discovered about edge of evolution’ the limit to what example of irreducible complexity—a this, and it is also much more complex mutations and natural selection can biological feature that could not be than previously envisaged (pp. 97ff). achieve. built by ‘numerous successive slight Behe gives a sketch of the marvellous Powerhouse yeast Behe also looks at the history of yeast, again assuming the usual evolutionary scenario that yeast underwent a genome duplication hundreds of millions of years ago. He observes that no novel complexities have been added since. With the population numbers and short generation times, mutations have had plenty of opportunity to be creative, but … nothing. He also looks at pyrimethamine resistance in Plasmodium, DDT resistance in mosquitoes and warfarin resistance in rats. In every case things are broken by mutations to create resistance. Behe spends some time looking at anti-freeze in a fish (pp. 77–81). He acknowledges that the ‘evolutionary’ (mutations + selection) scenario painted www.wikipedia.com Illustration by Mariana Villarreal, is feasible. However, he points out that Figure 1. The construction of the various parts of a flagellum involves an intricate control the protein fragments that comprise system that achieves such precise, ‘just-in-time’ organisation, before any functionality is the antifreeze are quite non-specific, possible, such that no engineer would attribute it to random changes (i.e. evolution). JOURNAL OF CREATION 22(1) 2008 29 Book Reviews control systems that are involved in so they are expressed independently. protein-binding sites, but in all the achieving a ‘just-in-time’ organisation This expression must be controlled cases surveyed, perhaps one protein- of construction of the various parts. precisely, otherwise various types of protein binding site has arisen by It is precision engineering that no anemia called thalassemia result. Also, mutation: the sickle cell condition in engineer would attribute to random there is an essential chaperone protein humans, which is quite non-specific changes (i.e. evolution). called AHSP (alpha hemoglobin and actually destroys the normal There is just no way that a series of stabilizing protein) which, as the name structure of the hemoglobin tetrad successive slight modifications could implies, stabilizes the α-chain and also and causes disease not evolutionary create such intricate machinery because brings it to the β-chain.

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