ARN Quote Library

Dr. Robert Macnab of Yale University concluded a major 50 page review of the sensory and motor mechanism of the bacterium, E. coli, with these remarks:

As a final comment, one can only marvel at the intricacy in a simple bacterium, of the total motor and sensory system which has been the subject of this review and remark that our concept of evolution by selective advantage must surely be an oversimplification. What advantage could derive, for example, from a "preflagellum" (meaning a subset of its components), and yet what is the probability of "simultaneous" development of the organelle at a level where it becomes advantageous (Macnab, 1978)?

Macnab, R. (1978)
"Bacterial Mobility and Chemotaxis: The Molecular Biology of a Behavioral System"
CRC Critical Reviews in Biochemistry, vol. 5, issue 4, Dec., pp. 291-341

"Considering the way the prebiotic soup is referred to in so many discussions of the origin of life as an already established reality, it comes as something of a shock to realize that there is absolutely no positive evidence for its existence."

Denton, Michael (1985)
Evolution: A Theory in Crisis
Bethesda, Maryland: Adler and Adler Publishers, p.261

"Molecular evolution is not based on scientific authority. There is no publication in the scientific literature in prestigious journals, specialty journals, or books that describes how molecular evolution of any real, complex, biochemical system either did occur or even might have occurred. There are assertions that such evolution occurred, but absolutely none are supported by pertinent experiments or calculations."

Behe, Michael J. (1996)
Darwin's Black Box
The Free Press, p. 185

"The 'RNA world' scenario hinges on some rather far-fetched assumptions about the catalytic ability of RNA. For example, RNA polymerase ribozymes must have been responsible for replicating the ribozymes of the RNA world, including themselves (via their complementary sequences). RNA replication is a very challenging set of reactions -- far more challenging than those yet known to be catalyzed by RNA."

Bartle, David P. and Unrau, Peter J.
"Constructing an RNA World"
Trends in Biochemical Sciences 24 (1999): M9-M13.