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edited to remove the claim that this was a dormant bacteria until nylon appeared. Should be looked at and edited by committee.
Sp. K172, a strain of Flavobacterium, is a species of nylon-eating bacteria discovered in ponds that contained factory waste. Nylon was invented in 1935 by man, and this particular bacteria had been in a dormant state since creation until nylon became available as a food source.
Sp. K172, a strain of Flavobacterium, is a species of nylon-eating bacteria discovered in ponds that contained factory waste. What made this bacteria significant was that the enzymes they used to digest the factory waste (now known as nylonase) were unique to the particular strain.<ref>Kinoshita, S., Kageyama, S., Iba, K., Yamada, Y. and Okada, H. 1981</ref>
Since that time, Sp. K172 has been a central point of contention between the supporters of evolutionary theory and supporters of creation theory. The former believe it is proof that random mutation and natural selection can add information to a genome. The latter claim that the plasmids in the bacteria allow for it to adapt to different food sources, and that this is an irreducibly complex feature.