I have a question about the "Nylon Bug"

http://www.nmsr.org/nylon.htm (Flavobacterium Sp. K172).Can it survive on its original diet?
In the main part of this page the author says:

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"This organism, Flavobacterium sp.K172, cannot live off of normal carbohydrates. It needs nylon to survive. "

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The correction at the end of the article states that the mutation took place on a plasmid, not on the bacteria's main chromosomes. And that

quote:

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"It turns out that the novel plasmid's mutated DNA for production of nylonase is almost identical to a non-coding repetitive DNA sequence on the original plasmid; the difference is the single nucleotide that triggered the Frame Shift."

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Since the mutation occured on an originally non-coded sequence, would it be true to say that the bacteria has lost none of its original ability to create enzymes? And wouldn't it then be able to live of its original diet?On this page, Nylon eating bacteria problem | Page 4 | Christian Forums a poster to the forum that it is pro-evolution, called "lucaspa" states:
"[The ability to survive on its original diet] is implicit because the enzyme cleaves the dimer to give 6-aminohexanoic acid.In order for the organism to get energy out of this compound, it has to be broken down further to pyruvate so it can enter the Krebs cycle. Those enzymes have to be in place and are the same ones used in breaking down glucose (also a 6-carbon compound) to give pyruvate."Which is beyond what I know of biology and organic chemistry.An organism that couldn't eat anything until the last century would be a real nail in the coffin of creationism (not that it needs any more). Atleast, for that variety of creationism that supposes creation was completed 6000 years ago.Unfortunately, I don't have much technical knowledge in biology. That makes it difficult to understand even the abstracts to journal articles - let alone the article itself.I was wondering if anybody here had an answer, or could verify the above. I've tried to reach the author (Dave Thomas) at the address given (I changed the "AT" to an @ as requested), but I don't even know if the e-mail got there.BTW, I am not registered at the christian forum - I found the reference through Google. I thought I'd join this forum since it's much more interesting.[This message has been edited by FireGarden, 09-21-2003]

Bacteria quite often can switch enzyme pathways to consume whatever is at hand. They also have the bad habit of exchanging plasmid DNA with other species of bacteria, one reason why excessive use of anti-biotics is a very bad idea. It's possible that eventually nylon clothing may not be practical because it will be digested by bacteria. So yes, I see no reason why it couldn't subsist on its original diet as long as there was no selective pressure to select against having the genes for that diet.

Bacteria can eat cotton. And yet, we still make clothing out of it. They can eat wood, and we still make wood houses and furniture. What is critical is how quickly bacteria can consume something.------------------
"Illuminant light,
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