Researchers Hit On New Territory

The following clip comes from a science list serve. The link is likely proprietary, but give it a click if you like. To be fair, the article is about a new area and information about disordered proteins may run into serious dead ends. For example, the lab systems used to study the proteins may be examining artifacts of what the proteins truly look like in living cells.

But the key point that catches our attention is this: Even in the disorder, as perceived, is function. That function, like turning on and off various processes in cell metabolism, have to fit a specific order. Switches randomly turning on and off create only chaos … and thus potential disorder of metabolism itself. And yeah, if we point to design, in the sense of something intelligent, with regard to disordered proteins, someone will say this disproves intelligent design! Really? Think about it!

What appears disordered is yet in the earliest stages of research. And fascinating stuff … like areal biological brain teaser. Yet, the active sites in these new found proteins contribute to an expansion of controls in cells. As the circuits in cells become more complex with switches, pathways, and controls … why then insist such complexity can only come from random evolution?

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Researchers hope to unlock secrets of disordered protein
Scientists are working to understand how disordered proteins interact with other proteins, with the hopes of unlocking mysteries of certain diseases or possible treatments. Flexible strands of protein were long thought to be destroyed proteins until researcher Richard Kriwacki combined them with other proteins to create structure. Now it’s thought that “intrinsically disordered proteins” may play major roles in controlling cellular processes in the body. “Just like in physics, the protein universe seems to have this dark matter we have neglected, which now turns out to be important in cells,” said Peter Tompa, a protein chemist and one of the lead researchers in the project. Science News (1/24))
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We live in a society that is growing more thick skinned to the presence of God … yet real thinkers will dive into the details to consider the full implications. This clip of news says something really perplexing and incredible has shown up in the research. That’s what research should do! Even if the disordered nature turns out to be more ordered inside the living, intact, system … it’s still all about the incredible nature to life … even a springboard to something more than a mere material state of being. The data may not point to an identifiable Intelligent Designer, but we say leave the window of thought open to such a prospect.

Director, WindowView.org