[GodGunsGuts]

Ping!

[FormerRep]

Instead of ooh-ing and ahh-ing over extreme -philes, how about looking up a little real research on them.

http://merolae.biol.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/intro_menu.html

Genome sequence of the ultrasmall unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D.
Matsuzaki M, Misumi O, Shin-i T, Maruyama S, Takahara M, Miyagishima S, Mori T, Nishida K, Yagisawa F, Nishida K, Yoshida Y, Nishimura Y, Nakao S, Kobayashi T, Momoyama Y, Higashiyama T, Minoda A, Sano M, Nomoto H, Oishi K, Hayashi H, Ohta F, Nishizaka S, Haga S, Miura S, Morishita T, Kabeya Y, Terasawa K, Suzuki Y, Ishii Y, Asakawa S, Takano H, Ohta N, Kuroiwa H, Tanaka K, Shimizu N, Sugano S, Sato N, Nozaki H, Ogasawara N, Kohara Y, Kuroiwa T.
Nature 2004 Apr 8;428:653-657. [ Download PDF ] [ Supplementary Information ]
Small, compact genomes of ultrasmall unicellular algae provide information on the basic and essential genes that support the lives of photosynthetic eukaryotes, including higher plants. Here we report the 16,520,305-base-pair sequence of the 20 chromosomes of the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D as the first complete algal genome. We identified 5,331 genes in total, of which at least 86.3% were expressed. Unique characteristics of this genomic structure include: a lack of introns in all but 26 genes; only three copies of ribosomal DNA units that maintain the nucleolus; and two dynamin genes that are involved only in the division of mitochondria and plastids. The conserved mosaic origin of Calvin cycle enzymes in this red alga and in green plants supports the hypothesis of the existence of single primary plastid endosymbiosis. The lack of a myosin gene, in addition to the unexpressed actin gene, suggests a simpler system of cytokinesis. These results indicate that the C. merolae genome provides a model system with a simple gene composition for studying the origin, evolution and fundamental mechanisms of eukaryotic cells.

Complete sequence and analysis of the plastid genome of the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae.
Ohta N, Matsuzaki M, Misumi O, Miyagishima S, Nozaki H, Tanaka K, Shin-i T, Kohara Y, Kuroiwa T.
DNA Res. 2003 Apr 30;10(2):67-77. [ Download PDF ]
The complete nucleotide sequence of the plastid genome of the unicellular primitive red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D (Cyanidiophyceae) was determined. The genome is a circular DNA composed of 149,987 bp with no inverted repeats. The G + C content of this plastid genome is 37.6%. The C. merolae plastid genome contains 243 genes, which are distributed on both strands and consist of 36 RNA genes (3 rRNAs, 31 tRNAs, tmRNA, and a ribonuclease P RNA component) and 207 protein genes, including unidentified open reading frames. The striking feature of this genome is the high degree of gene compaction; it has very short intergenic distances (approximately 40% of the protein genes were overlapped) and no genes have introns. This genome encodes several genes that are rarely found in other plastid genomes. A gene encoding a subunit of sulfate transporter (cysW) is the first to be identified in a plastid genome. The cysT and cysW genes are located in the C. merolae plastid genome in series, and they probably function together with other nuclear-encoded components of the sulfate transport system. Our phylogenetic results suggest that the Cyanidiophyceae, including C. merolae, are a basal clade within the red lineage plastids.
Reference: Matsuzaki, M. et al. Nature 428, 653-657 (2004)

[Travis T. OJustice]

yet the Cyanidioschyzon algae thrive in it because they are specially equipped to detoxify arsenic through chemical modification.

Or maybe the arsenic isn't toxic to them.

[WondrousCreation]

God the Creator deserves the credit for equipping His plants and other creatures with the necessary cellular machinery to survive in extreme environments. The impersonal universe doesn’t care whether Yellowstone’s hot springs harbor life, but God, who formed the earth uniquely to be inhabited, apparently does.

Amen!

[Buck W.]

Evolution and Christianity are perfectly compatible.

[BlueDragon]

Deadly Waters No Problem for Well-Equipped Algae

Up a creek without a paddle? No problem. Hold our beers, and watch this!

[Wacka]

All these “articles” do is summarize a legitimate scientific article and then state it is so complicated that god must have done it. How about going to the original article in the legitimate journal and references from that paper and showing that there are no similar structures or enzymes (which would require real research), but they don’t because they CAN’T.

Another example from Yellowstone:
The DNA polymerase used for PCR was found in bacteria that live in the thermal pools in Yellowstone at close to boiling temperatures. This enzyme is a DNA polymerase, from its function. The regions of the protein necessary for polymerizing DNA are very similar to other polymerases as most mutations in these areas likely disable the protein. What has mutated are regions which increase the stability of the protein at higher temps. If not they would denature, as an egg does when it is put in a frying pan. This is easy to understand how it evolved.
Bacteria that had a mutation that made the protein a bit more stable at a few more degrees than normal could survive in hotter water and have more descendants. A few of these descendants had mutations that allowed them to survive in a little hotter water. Repeat billions of generations and you have the current bacteria. The same kind of evolution occurred at the deep sea vents.

What is so hard to understand about that?