cell-membrane

HURDLE NUMBER 17. THE CELL MEMBRANE HURDLE.

Even if life could have formed in the primordial soup (which it could not have done), it would soon have been destroyed by various ambient chemicals, unless there was a CELL MEMBRANE to protect it. However, in the primordial soup there was no cell membrane. Here are some quotes from authoritative sources that substantiate this statement:-

This quote is from the book – The Life of The Cosmos, by Lee Smolin (Professor of Physics at Pennsylvania State University), Published by Phoenix, 1998, pages 192 to 193:-

“Each cell is surrounded by a membrane - - - - - were there no such barrier, diffusion - - - - would quickly result in a mixture of the matter - - - between the inside and the outside of the cell, KILLING IT (My capitals.)”

The next quote is from the book – The Membranes of Animal Cells – by A. P. M. Lockwood (Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Senior Lecturer in Biological Oceanography at The University of Southampton), published by Edward Arnold, 1971, page 1:-

“Hundreds of chemical reactions and transfer processes are occurring - - - in every active cell, and membranes play a vital role in controlling these processes - - - - Intracellular membranes separate components of the cell WHICH WOULD BE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE IF ALLOWED TO MIX FREELY (My capitals).”

The next quote is from the book – Evolution – Possible or Impossible? By James F Coppedge, Ph.D. (Director of Probability Research in Biology, Northridge, California), published by Zondervan Publishing House, eighth printing, 1980, page 222:-

The author quotes from the book The Living Cell edited by Donald Kennedy, published by W. H. Freeman and co. 1965, pages 45 to 52 – Article – The Membrane of The Living Cell, by J. David Robertson:-

“Robertson tells us that - - - - cell membranes have the unique trait of “selective permeability”, allowing some things to pass through and not others.”

The next quote is from the book – The Evolution of a Creationist, by Jobe Martin, published by Biblical Discipleship Publishers, Rockwall, Texas, 2004, pages 48 to 49:-

“The membrane - - - - of the cell is highly complex. This membrane permits concentrations of certain chemicals - - - - into and out of the cell. If the concentrations of some of these chemicals vary by even one hundredth of a percent - - - THE CELL WILL DIE (My capitals).”

The next quote is from the book Evolution a Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton (molecular biologist – He was a senior research fellow in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand from 1990 to 2005), published by Adler and Adler, 1986, pages 268 to 269:-

Denton quotes Jacques Monod (a French biochemist, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965) – from Monod’s book – Chance and Necessity:-

“The development of the metabolic system - - - - poses Herculean problems. So does the emergence of a selectively permeable membrane, WITHOUT WHICH THERE CAN BE NO VIABLE CELL. (My capitals.)”

Denton then comments:- “The cell membrane - - - - depends on - - - apparatus capable of synthesizing the protein components of the membrane.” Denton then comments further, stating that – this apparatus (ie:- the synthesizing of proteins) cannot function unless the membrane is already present.

(My comment:- The cell membrane cannot be constructed without the proteins already being there. However, the proteins cannot come into being unless the cell membrane is already there. What this boils down to is that neither the proteins nor the cell membrane can come into being UNASSISTED.)