Chapter 8b:
DNA & Protein
Why DNA and Protein could not be Produced by Random Chance
3 - AMINO ACIDS AND PROTEIN
PROTEIN NEEDED ALSO—(*#6 Amino Acid Functions*) Now let’s look at protein:
Putting protein and DNA together will not make them alive; but, on the other hand, there can be no life without BOTH the protein and the DNA. Proteins would also have had to be made instantly, and in the right combination and quantity,—at the very beginning. And do not forget the sequence: Protein has to be in its proper sequence, just as DNA has to be in its correct sequential pattern.
Proteins come in their own complicated sequence! They have their own coding. That code is "spelled out" in a long, complicated string of materials. Each of the hundreds of different proteins is, in turn, composed of still smaller units called amino acids. There are twenty essential amino acids (plus two others not needed after adulthood in humans). The amino acids are complex assortments of specifically arranged chemicals.
Making those amino acids out of nothing, and in the correct sequence,—and doing it by chance—would be just as impossible, mathematically, as a chance formation of the DNA code!
ONLY THE LEFT-HANDED ONES—We mentioned, in chapter 6 (Inaccurate Dating Methods), the L and D amino acids. That factor is highly significant when considering the possibility that amino acids could make themselves by chance.
Nineteen of the twenty amino acids (all except glycine) come in two forms: a "D" and an "L" version. The chemicals are the same, but are arranged differently for each. The difference is quite similar to your left hand as compared with your right hand. Both are the same, yet shaped opposite to each other. These two amino acid types are called enantiomers [en-anti-awmers]. (Two other names for them are enantiomorphs and sterioisomers). (On the accompanying chart, note that they are alike chemically, but different dimensionally. Each one is a mirror image of the other. One is like a left-handed glove; the other like a right-handed one. A typical amino acid in both forms is illustrated.)
For simplicity’s sake, in this study we will call them the left or left-handed amino acid (the "L") and the right or right-handed amino acid (the "D").
Living creatures have to have protein, and protein is composed of involved mixtures of several of the 20 left amino acids. —And all those amino acids must be left-handed, not right-handed! (It should be mentioned that all sugars in DNA are right-handed.)
(For purposes of simplification we will assume that right-handed amino acids never occur in living amino acids, but there are a few exceptions, such as in the cell walls of some bacteria, in some antibiotic compounds, and all sugars.)
"Many researchers have attempted to find plausible natural conditions under which L-amino acids would preferentially accumulate over their D-counterparts, but all such attempts have failed. Until this crucial problem is solved, no one can say that we have found a naturalistic explanation for the origin of life. Instead, these isomer preferences point to biochemical creation."—Dean H. Kenyon, affidavit presented to U.S. Supreme Court, No. 85-15, 13, in "Brief of Appellants," prepared under the direction of William J. Guste, Jr., Attorney General of the State of Louisiana, October 1985, p. A-23.
TOTAL IGNORANCE—(*#5/29 DNA, Protein and the Cell*) Scientists have a fairly good idea of the multitude of chemical steps in putting together a DNA molecule; but, not only can DNA not be synthesized "by nature" at the seashore, highly trained technicians cannot do it in their million-dollar laboratories!
"The evolution of the genetic machinery is the step for which there are no laboratory models; hence we can speculate endlessly, unfettered by inconvenient facts."— *R. Dickerson, "Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life," in Scientific American, September 1978, p. 70.
Dozens of inherent and related factors are involved. One of these is the gene-protein link. This had to occur before DNA could be useable; yet no one has any idea how it can be made now, much less how it could do it by itself in a mud puddle.
"None has ever been recreated in the laboratory, and the evidence supporting them all [being produced by random chance in the primitive environment] is very thin. The emergence of the gene-protein link, an absolutely vital stage on the way up from lifeless atoms to ourselves, is still shrouded in almost complete mystery."—*A. Scott, "Update on Genesis," in New Scientist, May 2, 1985, p. 30.
4 - SYNTHESIZED PROTEIN
THE MILLER EXPERIMENTS—In 1953, a graduate biochemistry student (*Stanley Miller) sparked a non-oxygen mixture of gases for a week and produced some microscopic traces of non-living amino acids. We earlier discussed this in some detail in chapter 7, The Primitive Environment (which included a sketch of the complicated apparatus he used); this showed that *Stanley’s experiment demonstrated that, if by any means amino acids could be produced, they would be a left-handed and right-handed mixture—and therefore unable to be used in living tissue.
"Amino acids synthesized in the laboratory are a mixture of the right- and left-handed forms."—*Harold Blum, Time’s Arrow and Evolution (1968), p. 159.
Even if a spark could anciently have turned some chemicals into amino acids, the presence of the right-handed ones would clog the body machinery and kill any life form they were in.
(1) There are 20 essential amino acids. (2) There are 300 amino acids in a specialized sequence in each medium protein. (3) There are billions upon billions of possible combinations! (4) The right combination from among the 20 amino acids would have to be brought together in the right sequence—in order to make one useable protein properly.
(5) In addition to this, the ultra-complicated DNA strands would have to be formed, along with complex enzymes, and more and more, and still more.
IMPOSSIBLE ODDS—What are the chances of accomplishing all the above—and thus making a living creature out of protein manufactured by chance from dust, water, and sparks? Not one chance in billions. It cannot happen.
Evolutionists speak of "probabilities" as though they were "possibilities," if given enough odds. But reality is different from their make-believe numbers.
There are odds against your being able to throw a rock with your arm—and land it on the other side of the moon. The chances that you could do it are about as likely as this imagined animal of the evolutionists, which makes itself out of nothing and then evolves into everybody else.
A mathematician would be able to figure the odds of doing it as a scientific notation with 50 or so zeros after it, but that does not mean that you could really throw a rock to the moon! Such odds are not really "probabilities"; they are "impossibilities!"
The chances of getting accidentally synthesized left amino acids for one small protein molecule is one chance in 10210. That is a numeral with 210 zeros after it! The number is so vast as to be totally out of the question.
Here are some other big numbers to help you grasp the utter immensity of such gigantic numbers: Ten billion years is 1018 seconds. The earth weighs 1026 ounces. From one side to the other, the universe has a diameter of 1028 inches. There are 1080 elementary particles in the universe (subatomic particles: electrons, protons, neutrons, etc.). Compare those enormously large numbers with the inconceivably larger numbers required for a chance formulation of the right mixture of amino acids, proteins, and all the rest out of totally random chance combined with raw dirt, water, and so forth.
How long would it take to walk across the 1028 inches from one side of the universe to the other side? Well, after you had done it, you would need to do it billions of times more before you would even have time to try all the possible chance combinations of putting together just ONE properly sequenced left-only amino acid protein in the right order.
After *Miller’s amino acid experiment, researchers later tried to synthesize proteins. The only way they could do it was with actual amino acids from living tissue! What had they accomplished? Nothing, absolutely nothing. But this mattered not to the media; soon newspaper headlines shouted, "SCIENTISTS MAKE PROTEIN!"
"The apparatus must consist of a series of proteins as well as nucleic acids with the ‘right’ sequences."—*R. W. Kaplan, "The Problem of Chance in Formation of Protobionts by Random Aggregation of Macromolecules," in Chemical Evolution, p. 320.
5 - MORE PROBLEMS WITH PROTEIN
ALL 20 - BUT IN 39 FORMS—The evolutionists tell us that, at some time in the distant past, all the proteins made themselves out of random chemicals floating in the water or buried in the soil.
But there are approximately 20 different essential amino acids. Each of them, with the exception of glycine, can exist in both the L (left-handed) and D (right-handed) structual forms. In living tissue, the L form is found; in laboratory synthesis, equal amounts of both the L and D forms are produced. There is no way to synthesize the L form by itself.
Here are all 39 forms. What a hodgepodge for the random accidents of evolution to sort through—and come up with only the L forms. Each one has its own complicated sequence of amino acids:
1 - Glycine
2a - L-Alanine 2b - D-Alanine
3a - L-Valine 3b - D-Valine
4a - L-Leucine 4b - D-Leucine
5a - L-Isoleucine 5b - D-Isoleucine
6a - L-Serine 6b - D-Serine
7a - L-Threonine 7b - D-Threonine
8a - L-Cysteine 8b - D-Cysteine
9a - L-Cystine 9b - D-Cystine
10a - L-Methionine 10b - D-Methionine
11a - L-Glutamic Acid 11b - D-Glutamic Acid
12a - L-Aspartic Acid 12b - D-Aspartic Acid
13a - L-Lysine 13b - D-Lysine
14a - L-Arginine 14b - D-Arginine
15a - L-Histidine 15b - D-Histidine
16a - L-Phenylalanine 16b - D-Phenylalanine
17a - L-Tyrosine 17b - D-Tyrosine
18a - L-Tryptophan 18b - D-Tryptophan
19a - L-Proline 19b - D-Proline
20a - L-Hydroxyproline 20b - D-Hydroxyproline
WHY ONLY THE L FORM—You might wonder why the D form of protein would not work equally well in humans and animals. The problem is that a single strand of protein, once it is constructed by other proteins (yes, the complicated structure of each protein is constructed in your body cells by other brainless proteins!), immediately folds into a certain pattern. If there was even one right-handed amino acid in each lengthy string, it could not fold properly.
(See our special study on Protein on our website. It is fabulous, and shows the astoundingly complex activities of proteins inside the cell.)
6 - ORIGINATING FIVE SPECIAL MATERIALS
We are omitting this section from this paperback. It consists of detailed information on the step-by-step requirements needed to produce proteins, sugars, enzymes, fats, and DNA. The complexity of all this is fabulous. Over three large pages are required just to list the steps! You will find this on pp. 280-283 of Vol. 2 of the three-volume Evolution Disproved series set or on our internet site, evolution-facts.org.
7 - ADDITIONAL MATHEMATICAL IMPOSSIBILITIES
ALL BY CHANCE—Earlier in this chapter, we said that the possible combinations of DNA were the numeral 4 followed by a thousand zeros. That tells us about DNA combinations; what about protein combinations?
The possible arrangements of the 20 different amino acids are 2,500,000,000,000,000,000. If evolutionary theory be true, every protein arrangement in a life form had to be worked out by chance until it worked right—first one combination and then another until one was found that worked right. But by then the organism would have been long dead, if it ever had been alive!
Once the chance arrangements had hit upon the right combination of amino acids for ONE protein—the same formula would have to somehow be repeated for the other 19 proteins. And then it would somehow have to be correctly transmitted to offspring!
THE STREAM OF LIFE—The primary protein in your red blood cells has 574 amino acids in it. Until that formula is first produced correctly by chance, and then always passed on correctly, your ancestors could not live a minute, much less survive and reproduce.
You have billions upon billions upon billions of red blood cells ("RBCs," the scientists call them) in your body. This is what makes your blood red. Each red blood cell has about 280 million molecules of hemoglobin, and it would take about 1000 red blood cells to cover the period at the end of this sentence. (Hemoglobin is the iron-carrying protein material in RBCs, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, and carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs.) Both in complexity and in enormous quantity, your red blood cells are unusual. Several large books could be filled with facts about your red blood cells.
MAKING PROTEIN BY CHANCE—The probability of forming 124 specifically sequenced proteins of 400 amino acids each by chance is 1 x 1064489. THAT is a BIG number! If we put a thousand zeros on each page, it would take a 64-page booklet just to write the number!
The probability of those 124 specifically sequenced proteins consists of 400 all-left-amino acids, each being formed by chance. If EVERY molecule in all the oceans of 1031 planet earths was an amino acid and these kept linking up in sets of 124 proteins, EVERY second for 10 billion years would be 1 x 1078436. And THAT is another BIG number! That is one followed by 78,436 zeros!
As mentioned earlier, such "probabilities" are "impossibilities." They are fun for math games, but nothing more. They have nothing to do with reality. Yet such odds would have to be worked out in order to produce just 124 proteins! Without success in such odds as these, multiplied a million-fold, evolution would be totally impossible.
Throughout this and the previous chapter, we have only discussed the basics at the bottom of the ladder of evolution. We have, as it were, only considered the first few instants of time. But what about all the development after that?
More total impossibilities.
ENZYMES—*Fred Hoyle wrote in New Scientist that 2,000 different and very complex enzymes are required for a living organism to exist. And then he added that random shuffling processes could not form a single one of these in even 20 billion years! He then added this:
"I don’t know how long it is going to be before astronomers generally recognize that the arrangement of not even one among the many thousands of biopolymers [enzymes, proteins, hormones, etc.] on which life depends could have been arrived at by natural processes here on the earth.
"Astronomers will have a little difficulty in understanding this because they will be assured by biologists that it is not so; the biologists having been assured in their turn by others that it is not so. The ‘others’ are a group of persons [the evolutionary theoreticians] who believe, quite openly, in mathematical miracles.
"They advocate the belief that, tucked away in nature outside of normal physics, there is a law which performs miracles (provided the miracles are in the aid of biology). This curious situation sits oddly on a profession that for long has been dedicated to coming up with logical explanations . . The modern miracle workers are always found to be living in the twilight fringes of [the two laws of] thermodynamics."—*Fred Hoyle, "The Big Bang in Astronomy," in New Scientist, November 19, 1981, pp. 521-527.
*Taylor says that proteins, DNA, and enzymes—all of which are very complicated—would all be required as soon as a new creature was made by evolution.
"The fundamental objection to all these [evolutionary] theories is that they involve raising oneself by one’s own bootstraps. You cannot make proteins without DNA, but you cannot make DNA without enzymes, which are proteins. It is a chicken and egg situation. That a suitable enzyme should have cropped up by chance, even in a long period, is implausible, considering the complexity of such molecules. And there cannot have been a long time [in which to do it]."—*G.R. Taylor, Great Evolution Mystery (1983), p. 201.
Enzyme systems do not work at all in the body—until they are all there.
"Dixon [a leading enzymologist] confesses that he cannot see how such a system could ever have originated spontaneously. The main difficulty is that an enzyme system does not work at all until it is complete, or nearly so. Another problem is the question of how enzymes appear without pre-existing enzymes to make them. ‘The association between enzymes and life,’ Dixon writes, ‘is so intimate that the problem of the origin of life itself is largely that of the origin of enzymes.’ "—*Michael Pitman, Adam and Evolution (1984), pp. 144-145.