Institute for Creation Research
by Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph.D.
The origin of snake venom has been a long-time mystery to both creationists and evolutionists. Interestingly, new research confirms that the same genes that encode snake venom proteins are active in many other tissues.1
According to the biblical record, God’s creation was originally void of death, disease, and violence. Because of Adam and Eve’s rebellion, the whole of creation became subject to a curse that resulted in snakes with venom, stinging arthropods, and countless diseases. One of the chief questions facing creation biologists and geneticists is how venom was manifested in the genomes and cellular biology of creatures. A new scientific model that explains this paradox is gaining credibility thanks to a variety of studies in different types of organisms.2,3 In this model, genes and their regulatory sequences have either been corrupted and/or lost through genome degradation to bring about scenarios in nature that seem to defy the original harmonious purpose of God’s creation.
In a published study earlier this year, scientists took a fresh approach and looked for explanations of snake-venom origins outside the standard evolutionary paradigm. According to evolutionary ideas, it was believed that new venom genes were produced by the duplication of other standard body genes.3,4 In their work, the researchers analyzed gene expression in venom glands and other body tissues in a wide variety of venomous and non-venomous snakes, and even the gecko.
In stark contrast to the typical evolutionary story, the researchers stated, “We find the hypothesis that snake venom evolves through the duplication of physiological or body genes and subsequent recruitment into the venom gland to be unsupported by the available data,” and, “Indeed for a large number of the gene families claimed to have undergone recruitment we find evidence of …Continue reading.
Learn more about how things were in the beginning, and have been affected by the sin of man HERE:
