Pseudomonas fluorescens (Ps.fl.) is a bacterium with two whip-like tails called flagella for rapid motion in water. Old means it had many of its present characteristics including flagella about 700 million years ago. Since then, it lost none of its major features but added a few more.

To make the flagella spin, there is a structure with several proteins, some of them rotating. A very similar set of proteins is used to energize ATP, the primary energy carrier in cells. The similarities would have been called convergence of evolution a few decades ago. But since then, a very important principle has been found where genes are exchanged between totally different species, which is called horizontal transfer of genes. The genes are carried between organisms by viruses, bacteria and fungi. ATP would have acquired its rotating proteins from Ps.fl. through horizontal transfer of genes.

It would have been almost impossible for ATP to evolve these rotating proteins without horizontal transfer from Ps.fl., because metabolism of energy was highly developed and very demanding at that time. A lot of incremental evolution would have gotten in the way of cell metabolism and would have taken a very long time. That process could evolve undisturbed over much time with flagella.

Rotating proteins are not totally necessary for energizing ATP. In fact, a significant amount of ATP gets energized through normal metabolic processes which includes fermentation. It is only the final step of respiration which uses the rotating proteins. Every metabolic reaction would benefit from rotating proteins, but the complexities of producing them are so great that only energy metabolism got the benefit. The purpose (Purpose isn't always teleology. Check the dictionary.) is to move reactants into place and out of the way as fast as possible. Otherwise, simple diffusion must move the reactants, and it is much more chaotic and encumbered. Speed is important with energy metabolism, so organisms can use energy for rapid motion.

The new form of respiration involving rotating proteins was so advantageous that it was carried into the cells of soft-bodied fish as bacterial parasites. These then evolved into mitochondria.

Another feature of Ps.fl. is a blue-green fluorescent pigment which it produces in water. The purpose is to attract insects which pick up the bacteria on their feet and carry them around for dissemination. The pigment is not highly visible to humans, but insects see at a higher frequency than humans, which would make the pigment glow.

This pigment shows that Ps.fl. is still highly adapted to water; yet it is one of the most pervasive soil bacteria. Adapting to both soil and water is much more diversity than bacteria usually acquire. This diversity would have resulted from Ps.fl. being one of the first bacteria to move from ancient seas onto land. Land life would have begun 543 million years ago at the time of the Cambrian explosion of species. I see evidence that a planet exploded where the asteroid belt is located placing key minerals and quality clay on the surface of the earth as the cause of the Cambrian explosion. Other scientists are moving from this concept, recently deciding that no planet exploded in the asteroid belt. But their evidence is illusive, while much evolution and geology point to a planet exploding.

Consider that quality clay is only located near the surface of the earth. It's location points to it being layered on after much geological time. The large amount of shale beneath the clay indicates that the original soil on the earth was derived from shale. Oceans eroded the shale and created a sediment which later moved to the surface as a heavy gumbo. Sometimes, the gumbo and quality clay are within feet of each other. This distribution also shows that soil did not result from rocks eroding. Since clay is high in aluminum, while rocks are usually very low in aluminum, most soil could not have resulted from rocks eroding.

Ps.fl. points to this geological history because of its effective adaptation to soil. If other bacteria would have adapted to soil first, Ps.fl. would not have competed with them so well. In the soil, Ps.fl. breaks down proteins, primarily is spring soil, where ice crystals during the winter break open cells and release cell debris to be recycled. After about 6 weeks of growth in cool, damp, spring soil, Ps.fl. releases the nutrients to plants by splitting open and breaking down its large molecules into subunits. All bacteria and yeasts do this as they die. It's called autolysis, which means self-breaking. They recycle their cell material as nutrients available to younger cells. The result is amino acids and nucleic acids (nucleosides) as available nutrients which are used by plants in spring soil.

Ps.fl. has a very strong symbiotic relationship to plants. Just when spring plants, such as agricultural crops, start to become low in nitrogen, Ps. fl. autolyzes and releases organic nitrogen to them. The leaf color changes from the yellow of nitrogen deprivation to the dark green of nitrogen abundance. I have also found that Ps.fl. autolyzes in the presence of a small amount of acid (pH 5.0), which means plants can extract nitrogen from Ps.fl. by releasing acid from roots.

In the soil, Ps.fl. forms pairs, which is why it is called a pseudo monad rather than a monad. The pairing allows one of the cells to break apart while attached to the other cell, thus releasing enzymes very close to the viable cell. Flagella do not form under these conditions. This means Ps.fl. has two highly divergent and highly developed states of existence for soil and aqueous growth. This diversity is unprecedented in bacteria. Its nutrition and physiology are also extremely diverse. To isolate it from the wild, some grass roots are placed in a solution of glycerol and nitrate. Nothing else noticeable grows on that combination of nutrients. It is an unparalleled bacterium in the soil and unparalleled in water. A billion years of evolution in approximately the same form produced that result.

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