So, I was studying biology today and come upon this paragraph. Imagine my utter astonishment when closer examination proved that it was not in Greek, but was, in fact, English!
DNA is made up of two strands that are joined in the shape of a double helix. Thus, the plasmid that the donor has is composed of two strands. It turns out that due to the chemical nature of DNA, if an organism has one strand, it can construct the other strand using the first as a template. Thus, as the strand is being transferred, the donor bacterium begins making a second strand for their plasmid to replace the strand that it is donating. As the recipient bacterium gets the new strand, it also constructs a second strand so that it will have a complete plasmid as well. When the plasmid strand has been transferred, the conjugation tube collapses, and each bacterium finishes constructing the plasmid strand that it was making. In the end, then, there are two bacteria, each with the plasmid.
To which I reply, of course there is and I'll take your word for it! Now I realize that some of you find this very clear and interesting (I'll try not to hold it against you :-) ! ). Although I do not enjoy studying the in's and out's of pond-scum inhabitants ( O.K., asexual reproduction was pretty cool), one thing that really boggled my mind was the statement that bacteria represent the simplest form of life on earth. Wow. Go back and read the above paragraph with that in mind! What blindness there must be to lead someone to believe that this all came about with a big bang. So, in the middle of a biology lesson, God revealed a little more of Himself to me. And I'm so glad that He understands about microscopic organisms, because I sure don't!
posted by Lydia
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