dna-protein

HURDLE NUMBER 6. THE DNA/PROTEIN HURDLE.

The human body is essentially composed of proteins and DNA. The DNA is the “software”, and the proteins are the “hardware”. Unless we accept a supernatural creation, we have to believe that DNA and proteins originated from the primordial soup. If proteins emerged alone from the primordial soup, they could not reproduce themselves. If DNA (or RNA) emerged alone from the primordial soup, it could not reproduce itself without enzymes to assist in the replication process. Enzymes are proteins. If there were just protein and no DNA, it would be “game over”. If there were DNA and no proteins, it would also be “game over”. The proteins AND the DNA (or RNA) had to emerge from the primordial soup TOGETHER. This would be multiplying improbabilities to create an improbability so vast as to be effectively a miracle. Here follow some quotes from authoritative sources that substantiate this above statement:-

The following quote is from the book How Life Began by L.R. Croft, Lecturer in Biological Sciences at The University of Salford, published by Evangelical Press, 1988, page 53:-

“ No protein has been demonstrated to possess a simple copying mechanism that could have mimicked nucleic acids (ie:- mimicked DNA or RNA).”

And a quote from the same book – page 67:-

Nucleic acids (ie:- DNA or RNA) - - - - cannot begin to make proteins without the existence of proteins in the first place. Nucleic acids cannot exist without the proteins needed for their replication.”

This next quote is from the book Life From an RNA World by Michael Yarus (Professor Emeritus, Dept. Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado), published by Harvard University press, 2010, page 110:-

“Proteins called replicases - - - are required to make more nucleic acid (ie:- to make RNA or DNA). However, to make protein - - - - one needs a complex set of nucleic acids.”

The next quote is from the book Life Ascending – The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, by Nick Lane (Biochemist, and Provost’s Venture Research Fellow in The Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment at University College, London), published by Profile Books, 2010, page 49:-

“DNA - - - - requires specific proteins even to replicate itself - - - -Proteins don’t act as their own heritable template: they are coded by DNA. And so proteins cannot evolve without DNA, while DNA can’t evolve without proteins. If neither can evolve without the other, selection can never get started.”