Clutch Enables Your Motors to Achieve 100% Efficiency(Intelligent Design)

Creation Evolution Headlines ^ | 02/25/05 | Creation Evolution Headlines

[DannyTN]

Clutch Enables Your Motors to Achieve 100% Efficiency    02/23/2005
Those little ATP synthase motors (see 01/30/2005 entry) in your body and (in all living cells) made news again in Nature¹ last week.  Scientists in Tokyo performed an ingenious set of experiments to measure the efficiency of the F₁ synthesizing domain.  They attached a tiny magnet to the camshaft so that they could turn it with electromagnets at will, and they carefully measured the amount of ATP synthesized or hydrolyzed as the motor turned anticlockwise or clockwise under their control.  In the hydrolysis cycle, they found that the motor did not waste ATP; each molecule was successfully hydrolyzed with perfect efficiency, to the limits of their detection.
    A particular focus of their investigation was the role of the eta subunit, which is attached to the gamma camshaft.  During hydrolysis, the “downhill” function, it did not seem to matter whether eta was present or absent.  But in the “uphill” process (synthesizing ATP), it made a dramatic difference.  Without eta, each rotation produced, on average, only one product, but with it, they got three per revolution, with at least 77% efficiency.  The actual efficiency was probably higher, but was hard to measure for such small entities.  In best cases, it was 100%, they said: “Therefore our data point to an excellent mechanochemical coupling efficiency.  In the best cases, we observed the postulated value of three ATPs synthesized per turn.”
    “These results are consistent with the ubiquity of this strategic enzyme that fuels most of the energy consuming biological processes,” they said (emphasis added in all quotes).  “The present work reveals the unexpected importance of the eta-subunit in the synthesis of ATP.”  Though its precise function remains to be discovered, it was known to play a regulatory role; now, this team suspects it acts like a structural switch or clutch to lock the enzyme into synthesis mode.  Without it, the tiny motor undergoes wasteful slippage.
As a reminder to recent readers, you can find a wonderful animation of this molecular machine on the website of German biochemist Wolfgang Junge.  It is labeled “F₀F₁-ATPSynthase (animation)”  See also his Model Schematic.

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¹Rondelez et al., “Highly coupled ATP synthesis by F1-ATPase single molecules,” Nature 433, 773 - 777 (17 February 2005); doi:10.1038/nature03277.

By now, you expect our next observation: “The authors made no reference to evolution in their paper.”  They are treating these devices as actual mechanical motors, with stator, rotor, camshaft, and purposeful function, achieving performance stats beyond the dreams of human engineering.  Eat your heart out, David Hume.
Next headline on:  Cell Biology • Amazing Stories

Your Motors Are Turbo-Charged    01/30/2005
Think how fast 6000 rpm is.  It would redline on most cars.  Yet you have motors in your body that make that speed look like slow-mo.
    The Japanese have taken great interest in the cellular machine ATP synthase since its rotary operation was discovered in 1996 (see 12/22/2003 entry).  Maybe it’s because they like rotary engines.  ATP synthase is an essential protein complex that generates ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy currency of the cell.  Found in the membranes of mitochondria and chloroplasts, it runs on an electrical current of protons, from sunlight (in plants) or digestion (in animals).  It is a reversible engine: it can just as easily generate protons from the dissociation of ATP.  It has five major protein parts, including a rotor, a stator, and a camshaft.  The F₀ domain runs like a waterwheel on protons and turns the camshaft.  Three pairs of lobes in the F₁ domain catalyze ATP from ADP and phosphate, in a three-phase cycle of input, catalysis, and output.  Each revolution generates 3 ATP.
    Hiroshi Ueno and team, reporting in PNAS,¹ have invented new techniques for studying and measuring the tiny motors.  Now, with the aid of a high-speed camera running at 8,000 frames per second, they have clocked the rotational speed of the entire F₀F₁-ATP Synthase motor at 352 revolutions per second, a whopping 21,120 rpm.
    Although this molecular machine exists in all lifeforms, they used motors from a thermophilic bacterium.  To monitor the action, the team fastened a microscopic bead to the carousel of c subunits.  At 25° C, it ran at 230 rps.  At 45° C, it ran at 650 rps.  Extrapolating up to 60° C, the organism’s optimum growth temperature, they speculate that it could be running as fast as 1,600 rps – an unbelievable 96,000 rpm – and that with nearly no friction and almost ideal efficiency.  While they caution that reservation is needed whether these “enormous numbers” are actually achieved, they do say with confidence that the rotation rates they measured are much higher than earlier claims.  “It is intriguing to learn,” they say, “whether these rapid rotations are really occurring in living cells.”

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¹Ueno et al., “ATP-driven stepwise rotation of F₀F₁-ATP synthase,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 10.1073/pnas.0407857102, published online before print January 24, 2005.

We owe an apology to our readers.  We have been repeating earlier reports that ATP synthase runs at 6,000 rpm.  That’s like insulting the Ferrari company by watching one moving slowly in a parking lot and claiming it is rated at 10 mph.  We’re sorry for not giving proper credit to the Designer of this high-performance marvel.  Eat your heart out, Charlie.
Next headline on:  Cell Biology • Amazing Stories

[orionblamblam]

Amazing the things evolution and natural forces can produce.

[mike182d]

You're right. Those natural forces sure are smart.

[MineralMan]

It's amazing what evolution has produced.

[mike182d]

I'd sure love to meet this evolution-fellow and find out what he's got planned for the future.

[orionblamblam]

> Those natural forces sure are smart.

Pure random chance certainly seems to be smarter than a lot of people. The Democrats would have done far better by simply drawing lots for DNC leadership, but *nnoooo*, they had to intelligently design Dean into the chairmanship.

[plain talk]

Well a machine is less complex than a human brain. If evolution explains how a brain got here, then it should apply to a machine as well. Given enough time, a BMW should naturally evolve and present itself to me. I just need to be more patient.

[Willie Green]

Creation Evolution Headlines

This biased media source is nothing but spin.

[mike182d]

I still can't figure out how sexuality "randomnly" came into being by means of evolution. In order for sexuality to be successful and carry on it requires the presence of both sexes, otherwise it will die out as it is unable to reproduce. For instance, you couldn't have a male evolve first, and then a female generations down the road as the male would have died out because of his inability to reproduce. Both sexes are needed at the exact same time. It would seem that if the process is guided randomnly and by survival instincts, asexual organisms would have reigned supreme.

What are the odds of two different members of the same species developing opposing biological features that work perfectly when joined in union with the other for something as crucial as procreation? Sounds planned to me.

[microgood]

Now, with the aid of a high-speed camera running at 8,000 frames per second, they have clocked the rotational speed of the entire F0F1-ATP Synthase motor at 352 revolutions per second, a whopping 21,120 rpm.

Wow. That is dang near the same speed that most gas and steam turbines run at.

[gdani]

In order for sexuality to be successful and carry on it requires the presence of both sexes, otherwise it will die out as it is unable to reproduce

Ever heard of asexual reproduction?

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

Cool! Here are some essays on IC and the Flagellum that you and the lurkers might enjoy:

Irreducible Complexity Revisited http://www.iscid.org/papers/Dembski_IrreducibleComplexityRevisited_011404.pdf
The Neglected Flagellum http://www.idthink.net/biot/eflag/
The Neglected Flagellum http://www.idthink.net/biot/eflag2/index.html
Evolving the Bacterial Flagellum I http://www.idthink.net/biot/flag1/index.html
Evolving the Bacterial Flagellum II http://www.idthink.net/biot/flag2/index.html
Evolving the Bacterial Flagellum III http://www.idthink.net/biot/flag3/index.html
Evolving the Bacterial Flagellum IV http://www.idthink.net/biot/flag4/index.html
Evolving the Bacterial Flagellum V http://www.idthink.net/biot/flag5/index.html
Evolving the Bacterial Flagellum VI http://www.idthink.net/biot/flag6/index.html

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

ATP synthase motor:

~Hiroyuki Noji et al., 1997. Direct observation of the rotation of F1-ATPase. Nature 386(6622):299–302

[DannyTN]

"Given enough time, a BMW should naturally evolve and present itself to me. I just need to be more patient."

Yes, I'm waiting on an intelligent BMW that is capable of flight myself.

[DannyTN]

"Amazing the things evolution and natural forces can produce."-Orionblamblam
"It's amazing what evolution has produced.-Mineral Man
"This biased media source is nothing but spin."-Willie Green

Examples of what happens when intelligent designs lose their intelligence.

[bondserv]

The Evo's use the same formula as a Jesse Jackson rally. A lot of talk, but no truth.

I have yet to hear an Evo admit that the existence of the encoded information in the genome is unique to nature. They spin off into a diatribe about snowflakes and crystalline structures. As if that remedies the illogic.

[DannyTN]

Thanks, I don't think I've seen that IDThink.net site before.

[microgood]

Thanks for those links. I always knew that evolution was wrong but did not know that much about ID. When Dembski talks about coevolution and co-option that was the area of my concern as well.

I always thought of it from the macro level because I am not a biologist, but the idea of a creature without a wing mutating over time a wing, along with the knowledge of how to physically opertate the wing simultaneously with understanding its purpose which was to fly requires mutations across many systems of the animal that seem to anticipate the purpose of the wing itself, as if it was planned.

Also did not know about the indirect Darwinian paths in response to coevolution.

Looks like evolution is going down and maybe in my lifetime.

[mike182d]

Did you read my post? I said given the Theory of Evolution, the probability of two different members of the same species simultaneously evolving biological mechanisms meant to work in perfect union with the other is astounding. Thus, only asexual reproduction should exist. According to evolution and probability, male/female sexuality should never have gotten off the ground.

[DannyTN]

"the probability of two different members of the same species simultaneously evolving biological mechanisms meant to work in perfect union with the other is astounding. Thus, only asexual reproduction should exist. "

Sex shouldn't exist both because of the impropability of it's evolution. But also, because asexual reproduction should have a clear evolutionary advantage. In asexual reproduction, every mutation counts and has the opportunity to propigate. Whereas, sexual reproduction, tends to stabilize the gene pool and helps weed out obvious deformaties.