If eukaryotes cannot develop from prokaryotes through evolution, then evolution logically cannot be possible.
There are two types of life forms on the earth. Prokaryotes are the simpler ones like bacteria. Evolution teaches that these were here first and only after millions of years eukaryotes evolved from them. Eukaryotes however are much more complicated and include all of the animals, plants, and fungi. Some of the technical differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes are that prokaryotes do not have a nucleus in the cell and they have no membrane bound organelles such as mitochondria, chloroplasts, lysosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, or golgi apparatus. Another difference is that prokaryotes have a cell wall and eukaryotes instead have a cell membrane and a cytoskeleton. The way prokaryotes and eukaryote cells divide is also completely different. Many of these components inside eukaryote cells are so incredible by themselves that they will be discussed individually.
Eight of the fifty topics discussed here will be some of these differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes because this is such a dramatic distinction of types of life. I will use these terms of prokaryotes and eukaryotes often, and since these are such unknown words for most people it is important to know what we are talking about. Prokaryotes are bacteria and viruses, but do include most other forms of life. There are five main groups of eukaryotes. The three most well known are animals (including humans), plants, and fungus. I will continue to use the terms prokaryotes and eukaryotes but just think of bacteria and viruses for prokaryotes and plants and animals for eukaryotes.
These life forms of prokaryotes and eukaryotes have been emphasized as one of the greatest distinctions in all of biology because there are so many differences. There is no gradual transition from one to another, these are two drastically and distinctly different forms of life and there is no explanation of how it could have happened, none. This is such a major, critical and important topic. The main point is that there are so many specifics that we know from science and biology about how these cells are different. This can be thought of generally in evolution as how did bacteria turn into animals and plants?
Everyone who has ever taken college biology has had to memorize the many differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. We only learn that they are different and rarely stop to think about how one could have evolved into the other. The general idea though is that the much more complicated life forms of animals and plants which are eukaryotes must have evolved from the much simpler prokaryote life forms like bacteria. So how is this explained by evolution?
In the journal Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology the article, “Molecular paleontology and complexity in the last eukaryotic common ancestor” puts this in proper perspective stating, “the origin of the eukaryotic cell, represents one of the fundamental evolutionary transitions in the history of life on earth” and concisely summarizes all of existing knowledge as “This event, which is estimated to have occurred over one billion years ago, remains rather poorly understood” because “the molecular machinery present in these organisms has remained unknown”. The problem that has never been explained is how the prokaryotes which are so much simpler ‘evolved’ into the much more complex eukaryotes. These experts report “spectacular cellular complexity prior to expansion of the eukaryotic lineages” and they cannot understand how the earliest eukaryotes could possibly have had the level of molecular and cellular complexity that they now know is true, and must be explained. They can only marvel at what has been found and struggle with the “challenge in terms of explaining how these early eukaryotes arose and in understanding how they lived”.
The importance of this transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes cannot be overemphasized. Creationists often do not discuss it in detail with nonscientists because of the high level of education needed to understand the differences. Yet everyone, regardless of how much biology they know, can easily understand that bacteria (prokaryotes) are nothing like plants or animals (eukaryotes). It is not necessary to understand all of the specific differences at the cellular level.
Everyone can also understand that evolutionists have never, and cannot currently explain it. They cannot explain it at the cellular level or at the molecular level. They cannot explain it at a conceptual level. They cannot explain it at any level. They cannot explain it in any way at any time, even to other evolutionists who would not criticize any explanation. Evolutionists like all scientists communicate by writing in the scientific journals. Published in these journals are the opinions, facts, and results of experiments on all of these varied highly technical topics. This represents the highest level of understanding and scholarship of the most educated, trained, experienced and respected scientists in the world. In these journals we simply see they do not know! It is their published opinion and position over and over again.
The number of unsolved mysteries and unexplained transitions for evolution is astonishing! It is vastly more than the 50 that are discussed here. Even though the terms prokaryotes and eukaryotes are not familiar with most people, we all know that bacteria (prokaryotes) are nothing like plants or animals (eukaryotes). As we look at the details of how they are different at the level of the cell, these differences only get more dramatic and more difficult to explain. In fact, they are not explained, which is the whole point. A logical person cannot accept that something simple changes into something complex. A logical person needs to have information to reason and determine if something simple can change into something complex. This intellectual evaluation needs to have something to evaluate. Since evolutionists cannot provide creationists with any sequence of events of how this happened, we can only look at some of the differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. These differences are related to both the structure and function of these forms of life.
These differences are extremely dramatic and several of these will be presented in the next sections of controversies. Prokaryotes do not have any of these features that will be discussed and eukaryotes have all of them. Each of these involve the functions of elegant and sophisticated complex structures. These are ‘parts’ of eukaryotes which all work together to make eukaryote life distinct and separate from prokaryote life. It is the “most important distinction of all of life”.
It is true that eukaryotes are so vastly different from prokaryotes and also true that they must have evolved from prokaryotes for evolution to be true. Evolutionists know this is a fact and this is the reason that so much time and effort has been spent to try to show how this possibly could have happened. Unfortunately for evolutionists, at this time the brightest minds in evolution can only tell us that this “fundamental evolutionary transition in the history of life on earth” is “poorly understood”, “remains unknown”, and openly admit in their own evolutionary journals the “challenge in terms of explaining how these early eukaryotes arose”, remains “one of the great unsolved mysteries of cell biology.” These are the descriptions used by evolutionists to evolutionists in evolutionary journals. These are the facts, and they are undisputed.
Evolution cannot be true if eukaryotes cannot evolve from prokaryotes. It is a necessary condition.
You do not need to be an expert in biochemistry or molecular biology, which are the scientific disciplines of the journals these are published in, to understand that they just don’t know. They simply cannot explain it. They have no answers. Creationists cannot argue with what the evolutionists are saying about how it happened. This is because there is nothing to argue about when there is no explanation to talk about!
You do not need to be a biochemist or molecular biologist to publish:
If eukaryotes cannot develop from prokaryotes through evolution, then evolution logically cannot be possible.
FURTHER STUDY
The journal Quarterly Review of Biology in the rather oddly worded article, “The karyomastigont as an evolutionary seme” continues to discuss this same problem. Here this fundamental and completely unexplained difference in life forms between prokaryotes and eukaryotes is described as “The problem of eukaryogenesis–the evolutionary mechanism whereby eukaryotic cells evolved from prokaryotes–remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of cell biology.” Creationists say it remains unknown because it never happened. Evolutionists are fully aware that it must have happened for evolution to be true, but since they have no idea how this could possibly have happened, they have to say it “remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of cell biology.”
Another article, “An inside-out origin for the eukaryotic cell” published in BioMed Central Biology appropriately states the importance of this discussion as “although the origin of the eukaryotic cell has long been recognized as the single most profound change in cellular organization during the evolution of life on earth, this transition remains poorly understood. ” Creationists agree that this is the single most profound change during the evolution of life on earth! All people searching for truth in the controversy of evolution versus creation can appreciate how profound this is. Even prokaryote life is exceedingly complex. But this is nothing compared to the complexity of eukaryote life. Students who understand the words that are used in cellular biology (like cell nucleus, peroxisomes, microtubules, endoplasmic reticulum, golgi apparatus, cytoskeleton, and mitochondria) can consider these specific cellular differences and think about how they could have ‘evolved’. However, an understanding of cellular biology at this level is not needed to understand that the experts of evolution agree that this is “one of the fundamental evolutionary transitions in the history of life on earth” and that it is also described as the “single most profound change… during the evolution of life on earth”.
The next several controversies will discuss the cell nucleus, the cytoskeleton, mitochondria, peroxisomes, the endomembrane system and sexual reproduction. Remember that prokaryotes do not have any of these features while eukaryotes have all of them.
It is a published fact in peer reviewed scientific journals that the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes is unexplained.