Amazing tiny chloroplasts found within equally incredible plant cells continue to reveal the detailed workmanship of the Creator who created plants on Day 4 of creation.^1–3 But evolutionary theory takes God out of it: “Every plant cell is the product of a biological merger billions of years ago.”⁴

Conventional scientists claim that chloroplasts, “key structures in [plant cells] and algae that capture sunlight,”⁴ originally evolved from prokaryotes that were engulfed by eukaryotic cells (which make up people, plants, and animals) 1.5 billion years ago. These prokaryotes were not digested but lived inside the host cell in a mutually beneficial relationship called endosymbiosis. Through time, these endosymbionts went on to become, for example, mitochondria and plastids (complex, specialized structures within the cell). This is called the endosymbiotic hypothesis, and it has been popular for the past 60 years.^4,5

Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University believe they have found new insight that potentially builds upon or bolsters this hypothesis of chloroplast origins. Writing in Nature Communications, they report how a cellular predator named Rapaza viridis can steal a chloroplast from the algal prey it consumes, and it can then incorporate the chloroplast into tiny structures.⁶ These stolen chloroplasts are called kleptoplasts (from the Greek word kleptes, meaning “thief”).

This proceeding is known as kleptoplasty, a symbiotic process where an organism obtains and utilizes photosynthetic plastids, or chloroplasts from algae, from another organism for its own benefit.⁷ The kleptoplasts temporarily stay inside R. viridis. The researchers see this as evidence for evolution and the endosymbiotic hypothesis, stating that it “may offer a glimpse of some of the early steps involved in that ancient transformation [into the first plant cells] [emphasis added].”⁴

The researchers then extrapolate back 1.5 billion years to make their questionable case for when the first plant cells emerged. In their own words,

It is impossible to reconstruct the ecophysiological state of the last common ancestor of Rapaza and Euglenophyceae [single-celled photosynthetic algae] definitively, or determine whether the last common ancestor possessed transient kleptoplasts or permanent chloroplasts. However, it is likely that this ancestor had already developed translocation machinery, which was later inherited and adapted for Euglenophyceae chloroplasts and R. viridis kleptoplasts, given their apparently shared signals.⁶ (emphasis added)

Furthermore, the biologists state, “All organisms exist in evolutionarily transient states, shaped by continuous evolutionary refinements as they adapt to ever-changing conditions to ensure their survival through successive generations, and R. viridis is no exception to this.”⁶

But rather than providing evidence for evolution, kleptoplasty is evidence of design and the Creator. The creationist would simply modify the last quote by citing the continuous environmental tracking (CET) model: “All organisms are designed to continuously track their environment through innate systems as they adapt to ever-changing conditions to ensure their survival through successive generations, and R. viridis is no exception to this.”

Additionally, the symbiotic relationship of R. viridis and the ingested algal chloroplasts are part of a designed interface system. A team of creationists stated in 2023, “The interface is the boundary, on every autonomous organism, where intimate alliances allow for complex communication and product exchange.”⁸ Indeed, the scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University documented how “proteins encoded in the host’s nucleus [R. viridis] have been biochemically shown to function inside a stolen organelle from another species [Tetraselmis sp.].”⁴ This design interface model better describes the complexities needed for independent organisms like R. viridis and the chloroplasts of Tetraselmis sp. to form an intimate relationship than evolution.

Therefore, the evidence indicates R. viridis is part of an interface system engineered by the Creator to utilize the appropriated chloroplasts taken from green algae via kleptoplasty. Not only does R. viridis obtain a meal, but it gains the chloroplasts of the prey as well. Its genome contains the genetic code for all the appropriate proteins to exploit the chloroplasts for its own photosynthetic benefits.

R. viridis and the kleptoplasts do not point to long-ago plant cell origins or some cryptic evolutionary transient state but to the two different autonomous structures that reflect biological flexibility and astonishing symbiotic complexities. Isn’t our Creator amazing?

References

1. Sherwin, F. Chloroplast Construction Reflects Creation. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org October 26, 2023.
2. Tomkins, J. P. 2017. Multipurpose Plant Sensors Startle Scientists. Acts & Facts. 46 (1): 16.
3. Sherwin, F. Photosynthetic Proteins Power Plants. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org May 16, 2024.
4. Stolen Chloroplasts Maintained by Host-Made Proteins Offer Clues to Plant Cell Origins. Osaka Metropolitan University news release. Posted on omu.ac.jp March 24, 2026.
5. Tomkins, J. P. 2015. Endosymbiosis: A Theory in Crisis. Acts & Facts. 44 (11): 13.
6. Kashiyama, Y. et al. 2026. Transient Molecular Chimerism for Exploiting Xenogeneic Organelles. Nature Communications. 17, article 2371.
7. Hennigan, T., R. Guliuzza, and G. Lansdell. 2022. Interface Systems and Continuous Environmental Tracking as a Design Model for Symbiotic Relationships. Journal of Creation. 36 (2): 97–105.
8. Hennigan, T. et al. 2023. A Creation Model of Design: Application of an Interface Systems Model in Key Global Symbiotic Relationships. Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism. 9, article 14: 228–241.

* Dr. Sherwin is a science news writer at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned an M.A. in invertebrate zoology from the University of Northern Colorado and received an honorary doctorate of science from Pensacola Christian College.