Rosa Rubicondior: Malevolent Designer - How a Hostile Planet Can Kill With Deadly Toxins

Satellite image of Lake Erie.

Image credit: NOAA Great Lakes CoastWatch MODIS Satellite Image – July 6, 2020

Bacterial villain behind Lake Erie’s ‘potent toxin’ unveiled by U-M study | University of Michigan News

You would think that a planet designed specifically for humans would be safe—one with an abundant supply of clean water to drink and wholesome food to eat.

Sadly, that is far from the case. As recent research has shown, on top of the pathogens and parasites that abound in nature—and which seem almost purpose-built to cause suffering, not just to humans but to virtually every other life form—there now exists yet another threat. Wherever you look in the natural world, every species has one or more parasites adapted to live in or on it, and even parasites themselves often fall prey to their own parasites. To this long list we can now add a group of cyanobacteria capable of turning fresh water into a deadly neurotoxin during warm weather. It is almost as though Earth wasn’t designed by an intelligent, benevolent creator after all.

In science, this is what’s known as a falsified hypothesis. You begin with an idea—in this case, that Earth was designed for humans by an omnibenevolent, omniscient deity—then you consider what predictions would logically follow. One such prediction might be that a planet designed for human well-being would contain no natural hazards or harmful organisms that routinely inflict suffering. Then you examine the evidence. If the facts contradict the prediction, the hypothesis is falsified.

And that is precisely what the existence of harmful organisms does. The evidence directly contradicts the creationist claim of an intelligently designed planet optimally crafted for humans. This does not, in itself, disprove the existence of such a deity; rather, it falsifies the specific claim that the deity is all-loving and all-knowing, or that it intentionally designed Earth and its myriad pathogens and parasites. The alternative is that the god described in the Bible and Qur’an is not as advertised—or does not exist and played no role in designing the world. The pathogens and parasites appear to have arisen from entirely different processes while this supposed designer either looked away or was not involved at all. Such outcomes are not the work of a benevolent creator.

In fact, the deity’s reputation would fare better if it didn’t exist, because then it could not be held responsible.

Cyanobacterial Blooms^ What They Are. Cyanobacteria—often misleadingly called “blue-green algae”—are photosynthetic bacteria that can form dense blooms in lakes, reservoirs and slow-moving rivers. Blooms occur when conditions allow rapid proliferation, typically triggered by:

Warm temperatures
High nutrient levels (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus)
Calm water and strong sunlight
Stratification of the water column

Climate change and agricultural runoff have significantly increased the frequency and intensity of such blooms worldwide.

The Toxins: Microcystins and Beyond

Some cyanobacteria produce potent secondary metabolites known as cyanotoxins. These affect humans, domestic animals, fish and wildlife. The main groups are:

Microcystins (MCs)

Most common toxin in freshwater systems.
Produced largely by Microcystis, Dolichospermum (formerly Anabaena), and Planktothrix.
Primary effect: hepatotoxins—damaging liver cells by inhibiting protein phosphatases.
Microcystin-LR is the most studied variant and is highly potent.
Extremely stable in the environment; can persist long after the bloom has dissipated.

Anatoxins

Neurotoxins produced by several genera including Dolichospermum, Aphanizomenon, and Oscillatoria.
Cause rapid respiratory paralysis by mimicking acetylcholine.
Responsible for sudden deaths in pets, livestock and wildlife.

Saxitoxins

Also neurotoxic.
Better known from marine “red tides”, but produced in freshwater by some Aphanizomenon species.
Cause paralytic shellfish poisoning–like symptoms.

Cylindrospermopsin

A cytotoxin affecting liver, kidneys and other organs.
Produced by Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii and related species.
Increasingly widespread due to global warming.
Lyngbyatoxin & Aplysiatoxin

Skin irritants associated with dermatological reactions.

The specific study you referenced has advanced our understanding of which bacteria are responsible for producing certain microcystins in Lake Erie, focusing on the genomics of the responsible Microcystis strains.

What the New Paper Adds

The University of Michigan-led study (ACS EST 2024) provides several important contributions:

Identification of the “villain” strain

The researchers pinpointed the principal cyanobacterial group responsible for producing the most toxic form of microcystin in Lake Erie—Microcystis aeruginosa, but specifically a subset of strains with:

Highly active microcystin gene clusters
Enhanced capacity for nitrogen uptake
Genomic adaptations promoting bloom dominance

This resolves a long-standing uncertainty about which ecological populations are contributing the highest toxin load.

New genomic tools

They used:

Metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs)
High-resolution sequencing
Comparative genomics

This allowed them to sort bloom communities into ecological and genetic “guilds” and link toxin genes directly to specific lineages.

Evidence of environmental triggers

Their data show how certain environmental conditions—especially warm, nutrient-rich surface waters—select for the most toxic strains.

Implications for forecasting

If you know:

Which strain is present
Its toxin-production capacity
The environmental conditions that favour it

…you can improve predictions about when dangerous toxin spikes will occur.

Health Effects

Exposure may occur through drinking water, recreational contact, or consumption of contaminated fish or shellfish.

Symptoms Include:

Hepatic injury (microcystins): jaundice, abdominal pain, vomiting
Neurological symptoms (anatoxins/saxitoxins): numbness, respiratory failure
Kidney impairment (cylindrospermopsin)
Skin rashes

Microcystins remain a major concern because they can be concentrated by water treatment systems that are not designed to remove them.

Why This Matters (and why it contradicts “design”)

Cyanobacteria evolved these toxins long before animals existed—they’re not “aimed” at humans. They likely serve roles in:

Competition between cyanobacterial strains
Protection against grazers
Cell signalling

Yet the outcome for humans is severe water contamination, sometimes rendering entire lakes unsafe to drink or even touch—hardly what one would expect from a planet “designed” for human wellbeing.

The research identifying the cyanobacteria responsible for poisoning Lake Erie in North America was conducted by a team at the University of Michigan, who explain their findings in a Michigan News article.

Bacterial villain behind Lake Erie’s ‘potent toxin’ unveiled by U-M study
In the warm summertime waters of Lake Erie, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, can proliferate out of control, creating algal blooms that produce toxins at a rate that can harm wildlife and human health.

Now, University of Michigan researchers have identified the organism responsible for producing the toxins: a type of cyanobacteria called Dolichospermum.
Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, can be composed of different types of cyanobacteria, which can produce different types of toxins. Knowing which cyanobacteria produces which toxins can help scientists track and respond to harmful algal blooms.

A bloom in 2014 produced a toxin called microcystin, which threatened Toledo’s drinking water supply. In 2007, scientists first detected evidence of a potent toxin called saxitoxin in Lake Erie, but they weren’t sure which organism produced it. Saxitoxins, a group of closely related neurotoxins, are among the most potent natural toxins known.

The main advantage of knowing which organism produces the toxin is that it helps us understand the conditions that cause toxin production—that is, what conditions make those organisms successful. Such information can help guide policy and management, though we’re still a long way from that in this case.

Professor Gregory J. Dick, co-author
Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR)
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

To identify the cyanobacteria, U-M researchers took samples from HABs as they occurred in the lake. Then, first author Paul Den Uyl used what’s called “shotgun” sequencing. This method sequences all of the DNA in a given sample of lakewater. Den Uyl used these DNA sequences to piece together a whole genome sequence, then searched within that sequence for genes that encode the toxin saxitoxin.

The researchers found that there were several strains of Dolichospermum in the lake, but only some of them produce saxitoxin. While they aren’t sure why some produce the toxin and others don’t, the researchers tried to parse the environmental factors that promote saxitoxin production.

To do this, they took samples from different locations on the lake throughout each season and quantified how much of the gene associated with saxitoxin was present in each sample. The researchers tended to find more of the gene in warm water.

That is interesting because we do know that the lakes are changing with climate change. With the warming of the lakes, one of the big questions is, how is that going to change the biological communities, including harmful cyanobacterial blooms?

Paul A. Den Uyl, first author
Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR)
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

The researchers also found that the gene associated with saxitoxin production was less likely to be in areas that had higher concentrations of ammonium. They think this may be because Dolichospermum has an unusual adaptation: It has a gene that suggests it can use nitrogen in the form of dinitrogen, which is abundant in the atmosphere—not something many organisms can do, according to Dick.

One of the neat things about having the whole genome is you can see everything the organism can do, at least theoretically. You have the whole blueprint for what the organism can do, and we do see the capability of obtaining fixed nitrogen from the water. It’s just that getting it in the form of dinitrogen gas is kind of a superpower. Not a lot of organisms can do that, and it makes them more competitive under those conditions.

Professor Gregory J. Dick.

The researchers say they have been tracking saxitoxin in the lake for nine years, but that doesn’t provide enough data to tell whether saxitoxin production will increase as the lakes warm.
But now that we know who’s producing it, I think we can keep a better watch on these organisms and we can also directly assess the gene abundance over time. We plan to continue monitoring the abundance of this organism, but it’s too early to tell if it’s becoming more abundant. It’s just a correlation, but that correlation with temperature is concerning.

Professor Gregory J. Dick.

Publication:
Den Uyl, Paul A.; Kiledal, E. Anders; Errera, Reagan M.; Chaganti, Subba Rao; Godwin, Casey M.; Raymond, Heather A.; Dick, Gregory J.
Genomic Identification and Characterization of Saxitoxin Producing Cyanobacteria in Western Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms

Environmental Science & Technology 59(15). 7600-7612; DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c10888

Abstract

Saxitoxins (STXs), a group of closely related neurotoxins, are among the most potent natural toxins known. While genes encoding STX biosynthesis have been observed in Lake Erie, the organism(s) responsible for producing STXs in the Laurentian Great Lakes have not been identified. We identified a full suite of STX biosynthesis genes in a Dolichospermum metagenome-assembled genome (MAG). The content of sxt genes suggest that this organism can produce STX, decarbamoyl and deoxy-decarbamoyl saxitoxins, and other congeners. The absence of sxtX indicates this organism is unable to produce neosaxitoxin, a potent congener. However, a distinct, lower abundance sxt operon from an unidentified organism did contain sxtX, indicating neosaxitoxin biosynthesis potential. Metatranscriptomic data confirmed STX biosynthesis gene expression. We also recovered highly similar Dolichospermum MAGs lacking sxt genes, implying gene loss or horizontal gene transfer. sxtA was detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction during 47 of 76 sampling dates between 2015 and 2019, demonstrating higher sensitivity than metagenomic approaches. sxtA gene abundance was positively correlated with temperature and particulate nitrogen:phosphorus ratio and negatively correlated with ammonium concentration. All Dolichospermum MAGs had genes required for nitrogen fixation. Collectively, this study provides a foundation for understanding potential new threats to Lake Erie water quality.

Den Uyl, Paul A.; Kiledal, E. Anders; Errera, Reagan M.; Chaganti, Subba Rao; Godwin, Casey M.; Raymond, Heather A.; Dick, Gregory J.
Genomic Identification and Characterization of Saxitoxin Producing Cyanobacteria in Western Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms

Environmental Science & Technology 59(15). 7600-7612; DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c10888

© 2025 American Chemical Society.
Reprinted under the terms of s60 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Taken together, these findings form yet another line of evidence against the creationist notion of a planet exquisitely “fine-tuned” for human life. If Earth truly had been engineered with our welfare in mind, its freshwater systems would not periodically become laced with potent neurotoxins produced by ancient microbes whose evolution long predates our species. The predictable recurrence of harmful cyanobacterial blooms—driven by nothing more than temperature, nutrients and sunlight—shows that the natural world operates according to indifferent biochemical and ecological principles, not the compassionate oversight of a benevolent designer.

The situation is even more problematic for creationists because this is not an isolated example but part of a global pattern. Every ecosystem contains organisms that can harm us, many of them unavoidable and deeply embedded in the evolutionary history of life. Pathogens, parasites, venomous species and toxic microorganisms arise naturally from evolutionary pressures, not moral intent. To maintain that these hazards are compatible with a deity who supposedly designed Earth for our comfort requires special pleading of the most transparent kind.

What cyanobacterial blooms actually demonstrate is the opposite of fine-tuning: a world shaped by evolutionary contingencies, chemical opportunism and environmental feedbacks. Life adapts to whatever conditions exist, whether or not those conditions suit us. The scientific evidence points to a planet that is indifferent, not intentional; dynamic, not designed. If creationism predicts a world optimally arranged for human flourishing, then the reality of toxin-laden lakes, disease-bearing organisms and a biosphere that routinely operates against our interests is a straightforward falsification of that claim.

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