1. If you read my posts, then you'd see that I do believe in evolution -- within the species. I don't believe in evolving from one species to another.

2. I do have an open mind, except when someone makes a false claim. There is no bacteria that thrives only on inorganic matter. There is no life form that does. As I stated, that would be one of the pinnacles of evolution, being able to survive on inorganic matter. "Evolving" to a dependence on organic matter would not be evolution, it would be de-evolution.

So there you have it. I was trying to figure out why there is so much animosity toward people who criticize the theory of evolution. I thank you and your allies on this thread for revealing more than you are aware of regarding your position and the motivation behind it.

There is no bacteria that thrives only on inorganic matter. There is no life form that does.

Geobacter metallireducens accesses insoluble Fe(iii) oxide by chemotaxis.

Microorganisms that use insoluble Fe(iii) oxide as an electron acceptor can have an important function in the carbon and nutrient cycles of aquatic sediments and in the bioremediation of organic and metal contaminants in groundwater. Although Fe(iii) oxides are often abundant, Fe(iii)-reducing microbes are faced with the problem of how to access effectively an electron acceptor that can not diffuse to the cell. Fe(iii)-reducing microorganisms in the genus Shewanella have resolved this problem by releasing soluble quinones that can carry electrons from the cell surface to Fe(iii) oxide that is at a distance from the cell. Here we report that another Fe(iii)-reducer, Geobacter metallireducens, has an alternative strategy for accessing Fe(iii) oxides. Geobacter metallireducens specifically expresses flagella and pili only when grown on insoluble Fe(iii) or Mn(iv) oxide, and is chemotactic towards Fe(ii) and Mn(ii) under these conditions. These results suggest that G. metallireducens senses when soluble electron acceptors are depleted and then synthesizes the appropriate appendages to permit it to search for, and establish contact with, insoluble Fe(iii) or Mn(iv) oxide. This approach to the use of an insoluble electron acceptor may explain why Geobacter species predominate over other Fe(iii) oxide-reducing microorganisms in a wide variety of sedimentary environments. Nature 2002 Apr 18;416(6882):767-9.

2. I do have an open mind, except when someone makes a false claim. There is no bacteria that thrives only on inorganic matter. There is no life form that does.

Metal-Eating Bacteria Corrode Pipes in Oil Industry By Pippa Wysong, Access Excellence

Calgary (09/25/04)- Researchers are unraveling the details of just how certain types of bacteria are able to use iron in their metabolic processes, and cause corrosion in oil pipelines. All this thanks to the recent sequencing of the genome for Desulfovibrio vulgaris. This bacterium is a type of anaerobic prokaryote known as sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), which changes sulfate to sulfide as part of its normal metabolism and respiration.

SRBs are found throughout the environment in soil, marshy lands and marine sediment. They play a vital role in the global cycling and transport of sulfur and other elements. Some varieties of SRB create a slimy biofilm on the inside of natural gas and oil pipelines, creating a narrowing of the pipe as well as corrosion. The corrosion, caused by the bacteria utilizing the metal for its sulfide production, creates damage that is both extensive and costly in the oil and natural gas industries.

The biofilms form because the bacteria are essentially fishing for food, according to Gerrit Voordouw, PhD, professor of microbiology at the University of Calgary. He points out that the inside of a pipeline has few nutrients for bacteria, but they have adapted to become more efficient at harvesting the sulfates they need.

"When an environment is nutrient poor and is flowing, it's a good idea to attach to a surface. That way, you are exposed to more goodies than when you flow with the flow," he said. He likened it to the way some bacteria attach themselves to rocks in Alpine streams where almost pure water offers little food. "If the bacterium was suspended in the stream, it would just float with the water and not get any nutrients. But if it attaches to a rock, forms a biofilm and the water flows past, it can sample a high amount of water," he said.

What SRBs need from their environment are sulfates, which they chemically turn into, or "reduce" into sulfide as part of their metabolic and anaerobic processes. They also take up hydrogen atoms (some of which are available from the pipe itself) which are used on the reducing process.

In order to reduce sulfate into sulfide, the bacteria must facilitate a chemical reaction that adds electrons to the sulfate. To do this, electrons are taken from hydrogen or other donors such as iron in the pipe.

"If you put a piece of metallic iron into a culture of these bacteria in a petri dish, it corrodes very rapidly," Dr. Voordouw said. The removal of electrons weakens the metal, and the steps the bacteria took to accomplish this were a mystery until now. Now that the genome has been sequenced (there are more than 3.5 million base pairs), researchers can unravel the actual mechanisms of how the bacteria can perform chemical reduction of metals -- and weaken pipes. The things being learned about the D. vulgaris genome are applicable to other SRBs.