Plant “Evolutionary Leftover” Now Deemed Vital

Photorespiration, “a biological process in plants, thought to be useless and even wasteful” and “just an evolutionary leftover” from an age when carbon dioxide was more prevalent, has been found to be “necessary for healthy plant growth and if impaired could inhibit plant growth,” according to a UC Davis study published in PNAS.¹ (see also summary on EurekAlert).  It functions as a way to inhibit nitrate assimilation.  Some agricultural scientists assumed it was an unnecessary process to be genetically engineered out of plants because it was wasteful, “But the new UC Davis study suggests that there is more to photorespiration than meets the eye and any attempts to minimize its activity in crop plants would be ill advised.”

Evolutionary presuppositions have once again stood in the way of scientific progress.  A design model would have looked at the phenomenon as there for a reason, and sought to determine what it was.  These scientists had to ignore Darwinism to get at the truth.  And we’re supposed to believe that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution?  The new version should be, “nothing in Darwinism makes sense in the light of biology.”