Deceptive Reporting on Yeast Evolution

Researchers commenced to fiddling with yeast, found a modification, and cried, "Evolution! Hail Darwin, blessed be!" They were shining ultraviolet light on the yeast. Maybe they got the notion from playing with a black light poster that had a picture of a hippie and had "Peace" in big letters.

Credit: Unsplash / Jonas Jacobsson

However it came about, they did not demonstrate any kind of evolution. They almost-intelligently designed a variation where a species of yeast can metabolize a food that it could not use previously. Every cell has a membrane that keeps good things in the cell and other things need to have an authorized escort. This yeast was given a transport so it could strap on the feed back for its new food. This may be beneficial for the brewing industry. What scientists found is actually evidence for special creation and built-in adaptability designed by the Master Engineer.

A research team at the department of Biotechnology at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands claims to have ‘evolved’ a species of yeast (Saccharomyces eubayanus) to digest a complex sugar called maltotriose. After exposing the yeast to high levels of ultraviolet light, they discovered a hybrid gene that gave it this new ability. The hybrid gene codes for a transporter protein which allows maltotriose into the cell. The yeast strain with the newly engineered gene was capable of increased maltose and maltotriose fermentation, which can be used in the brewing industry.

All living things, from single-celled bacteria to multi-trillion-celled-humans, have a cellular membrane that prevents things from leaking out of or from entering the cell. In order to live, food has to be brought into the cell through that membrane. Thus, all species have transport proteins that help to bring things into the cell. The genes responsible for transporting sugars into the yeast cell are called SeMALT genes. There is a diversity of such genes found among the many yeast species.

To read the rest of the article (it's a mite technical), click on "New sugar transport gene evolved in yeast? Mixing genes does not equal evolution!" Also, there is a follow-up feedback article, "Can mutations lead to new genetic information? A necessary clarification".