Scuba Gear for Bacteria

Scuba Gear for Bacteria

Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

~Job 21:22

Biotechnology may be a new word to you. It’s a relatively new science. Biotechnology is the science of engineering custom-made life forms. For example, biotechnologists can add to a bacterium the gene that makes fireflies glow. This procedure gives the bacterium the ability to glow.

Today, many engineered bacteria have been designed. They make medicines, hormones, enzymes and even food products. As biotechnologists are learning more about how to custom-design bacteria, they are able to make bacteria that are better able to do their assigned jobs. The efficiency of bacteria in doing their jobs can be affected by how efficiently they use their food and how much  oxygen they need. Getting enough oxygen to bacteria growing in  vats is often a challenge.

Biotechnologists have now discovered a bacterium that does well in low-oxygen situations. It can get by with periods of lower oxygen because it makes hemoglobin, the same molecule that carries oxygen in our blood. The bacterium uses the hemoglobin much like scuba gear to help it breathe. Biotechnologists have successfully added the hemoglobin gene to bacteria to make an enzyme used in the commercial production of high-fructose corn syrup. As a result of their increased efficiency, these bacteria are now able to make twice as much enzyme.

Even so-called “simple” living things are a symphony of carefully designed abilities. Modern science is revealing that they are intelligently designed by our Creator.

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