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DNA and Proteins’ Excellent Adventure

Perhaps you remember this scene from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure:

Bill: The truth is, Wyld Stallyns will never be a super band until we have Eddie Van Halen on guitar.

Ted: Yes, Bill. But I do not believe we will get Eddie Van Halen until we have a triumphant video.

Bill: Ted, it’s pointless to have a triumphant video before we even have decent instruments.

Ted: Well how can we have decent instruments if we don’t really even know how to play?

Bill: That is why we need Eddie Van Halen.

Ted: And that is why we need a triumphant video.

Both: Excellent! *air guitar*

At first look, this scene might not seem relevant to a discussion on the origin of life. But when you’re trying to explain mutually interdependent systems to a 16-year-old, you take what you can get. To the 16-year-old (my son, in this case), the idea that DNA and proteins (mutually interdependent) could emerge simultaneously on early Earth made as much sense as trying to get Eddie Van Halen on guitar by getting Eddie Van Halen on guitar.

Biochemist Fazale Rana explains that this mutual interdependence of DNA and proteins presents a “chicken-and-egg” problem (Which came first?) and raises questions about the origin of life. DNA stores genetic information and proteins catalyze chemical reactions. Both are essential for life to emerge. Yet because DNA and proteins are interdependent, both could not emerge simultaneously from a primordial soup, as the DNA–protein world hypothesis suggests.

Sounds pretty “bogus” from a naturalistic perspective. Yet evolutionists find a way around this conundrum by positing an RNA–world hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, life emerged from RNA (which simultaneously stores genetic information and catalyzes chemical reactions) then later evolved into the DNA–protein world.

However, in The Cell’s Design, Fuz explains the “most non-triumphant” difficulties with the RNA-world hypothesis:

It’s unlikely that the prebiotic chemical reactions identified in the laboratory for the production of ribose and the nucleobases [aspects of the RNA-world hypothesis] could take place on early Earth. And, even if these compounds did form, it’s unlikely they could assemble into functional RNA molecules. In fact, according to leading origin-of-life researcher Leslie Orgel, “It would be a miracle if a single strand of RNA ever appeared on the primitive Earth.”

To resolve issues with the RNA-world hypothesis, evolutionists now postulate a Pre-RNA world, which suggests life emerged from a still-earlier biochemical system. Fuz offers another resolution. If human designers and engineers often implement interdependent components simultaneously, then it stands to reason that a grand Designer would do the same to kick-start life on early earth.

As it turns out, chicken-and-egg systems do not pose much of a problem from a creation perspective. In fact, we might respond to such news much like Bill and Ted did in the scene above: Excellent! *air guitar*

–Sandra

 

Resources

The Cell’s Design

Origins of Life

Pieces of the RNA World Part 2

Pieces of the RNA World Part 1

A Fork in the Road Part 1

A Fork in the Road Part 2

Rescuing the RNA World? Part 1

Rescuing the RNA World? Part 2