Bacteria That Move Like “Spider-Man”

Psalm 40:5
“Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”

On a previous Creation Moments broadcast, we told you about the microscopic flagellar motor that some bacteria use to move from place to place – much like an outboard motor propels a speedboat along the surface of a lake. Today, I’m going to tell you about a different kind of nanomachine that some bacteria use to get around.

This is an example of an electron cryo-tomograph. It does not show the type IVa pilus machine. Using a new imaging technique called electron cryo-tomography, CalTech researchers were able to study the type IVa pilus machine. Professor Grant Jensen wrote that this nanomachine “allows a bacterium to move through its environment in much the same way that Spider-Man travels between skyscrapers.” As Dr. Jensen explains it, the bacterium assembles a long fiber that attaches to a surface like a grappling hook. When the bacterium retracts the fiber, the bacterium literally pulls itself forward.

The professor recognizes that such nanomachines are “huge complexes comprising many copies of a dozen or more unique proteins that carry out sophisticated functions.” And yet, he is unwilling to admit that such a complex machine must have come from the mind of an extremely intelligent designer. Instead, the Caltech team assumes that “over millennia, these adaptable little organisms have evolved a variety of specialized mechanisms to move themselves through their particular environments.”

Unlike evolutionists who assume that sophisticated machines just sort of evolved, creationists know it was the Creator who gave even lowly bacteria such incredibly complex machines to move around!

Prayer: Oh Lord, I praise You for creating a universe that never ceases to fill me with awe and wonder! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Author: Steven J. Schwartz
Ref: California Institute of Technology, “An up-close view of bacterial ‘motors’.” ScienceDaily, 3/29/16. Photo: This is an example of an electron cryo-tomograph. It does not show the type IVa pilus machine. Courtesy of Eikosi. (CC BY-SA 4.0)