Little by little, piece by piece, man’s knowledge of the internal workings of plants is growing—akin to the putting together of a large jigsaw puzzle. And speaking of jigsaw puzzles, plants actually manufacture their own—in the leaves.1,2 All pavement cells3 in the leaf epidermis “grow into interlocking patterns resembling jigsaw puzzle pieces.”4
So despite the leaf’s thin and delicate appearance, the interlocking jigsaw-like structures “provide the strength necessary to allow the plant to grow and thrive”.
Researchers have now identified some of the molecular processes regulating cell growth so as to form the jigsaw pattern “in a controlled and ordered way”. A group of enzymes known as GTPases (guanosine triphosphatases) play a key role in “a complicated and coordinated series” of chemical interactions. In simple terms, these proteins tell one part of a cell to grow outward to form a ‘lobe’ while correspondingly telling the neighbouring cell at that point to recede or indent itself so as to form a ‘neck’1 that interlocks perfectly.
Controlled, ordered, complicated, coordinated. While there’s still much more to learn about how construction of the jigsaw pattern can be coordinated in such an orderly manner,5 what is already known about the phenomenon has been described as “a finely tuned biological dance”.
This is not the only time that scientists have referred to the workings of plants in such terms. For instance, when they discovered roots grow in rhythmic pulses, one researcher said, “Everything’s coordinated. It’s like a dance,” with the “entire complicated ballet” repeating every three minutes.6
Of course, such finely-tuned, coordinated ‘dances’ don’t fit the no-Designer-was-necessary evolutionary storyline so often paraded today. Rather, a very different ‘big picture’ emerges, for those with eyes to see. Orderliness, where every piece of the puzzle fits in perfect and strengthening juxtaposition with its neighbours, cannot arise by itself from disorder, but only by design. And contrary to atheistic scoffing, recognizing God as Creator gives more impetus and motivation for undertaking scientific research, not less. For who would not want to explore and admire the intricacies performed by the Hand of the Master Designer? As the Psalmist wrote, “Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2).