Life from Molecules: 2
Genesis 1:11
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”
In the previous Creation Moment, we revisited some of the problems with the Miller-Urey experiment, which is supposed to show how living cells could have evolved from non-living molecules. The amino acids produced by the experiment do not include all 21 of those necessary for life but do include some amino acids which cannot be included in living cells. Moreover, each acid is produced in equal amounts of two mirror images, often called left- and right-handed versions; life, however, only exists with left-handed molecules.
A recent article on a popular science website pointed out another problem, that one of the amino acids in life must have a positive charge, while the others are negative. In life, positive amino acids, like arginine and lysine, enable the various negative molecules to stick together in the right places to make proteins. The Miller-Urey experiment, however, does not make these molecules – though it does make one positive acid called ornithine. The article suggests that ornithine could have developed into arginine and lysine but does not give a mechanism for this possibility.
Artificial proteins, constructed to include ornithine, do indeed seem to bind to DNA, but it turns out this is only a weak bond. So, the researchers have to propose that a lot of side reactions just happened to turn ornithine into the required amino acids. It is much more scientific to give God the glory for His wonderful creation.
Prayer: We know, Lord, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and so we praise Your Name. Amen.
Author: Paul F. Taylor
Ref: Weizmann Institute of Science. “Origin of life: Which came first? An experiment in recreating primordial proteins solves a long-standing riddle.” ScienceDaily, 22 June 2020. < www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200622095023.htm >.
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