Where Did It Begin?

The study of genetics and molecular biology has intrigued scientists for decades. Physicist Paul Davies is skeptical that a Creator could be behind it all. Still, he acknowledges: “Each molecule has a specified function and a designated place in the overall scheme so that the correct objects are manufactured. There is much commuting going on. Molecules have to travel across the cell to meet others at the right place and the right time in order to carry out their jobs properly. This all happens without a boss to order the molecules around and steer them to their appropriate locations. No overseer supervises their activities. Molecules simply do what molecules have to do: bang around blindly, knock into each other, rebound, embrace. . . . Somehow, collectively, these unthinking atoms get it together and perform the dance of life with exquisite precision.”

With good reason, many who have studied the inner workings of the cell have concluded that there must be an intelligent force responsible for its creation. Let us consider why.

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How DNA Replicates

For the sake of visual simplicity, the twisted DNA helix has been flattened

1 Before cells divide to produce the next generation of cells, they must replicate (make a copy of) the DNA. First, proteins help to unzip sections of the double-stranded DNA

Protein

2 Then, following strict base-pairing rules, free (available) bases in the cell are linked together with their matching bases on the two original strands

Free bases

3 Finally, two duplicate codebooks are made. So when the cell divides, each new cell gets an identical DNA codebook

Protein

Protein

The DNA base-pair rule:

A always with T

A T Thymine

T A Adenine

C always with G

C G Guanine

G C Cytosine

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How Proteins Are Made

For simplicity, we illustrate a protein made of 10 amino acids. Most proteins have more than 100

1 A special protein zips open a section of the DNA strands

Protein

2 Free RNA bases link up with the exposed DNA bases on one strand only, thus forming a strand of messenger RNA

Free RNA bases

3 The newly made messenger RNA peels off and moves away to the ribosomes

4 A transfer RNA picks up an amino acid and brings it to the ribosome

Transfer RNA

Ribosome

5 As the ribosome sweeps across the messenger RNA, a chain of amino acids is linked together

Amino acids

6 As it is being formed, the protein chain begins to fold into the shape needed to function properly. Then the chain is released by the ribosome

Transfer RNA has two important ends:

One recognizes the messenger RNA code

The other carries the correct amino acid

Transfer RNA

RNA bases use U rather than T, so U pairs with A

A U Uracil

U A Adenine

What Is Behind the Mystery of Life?

THE DNA molecule does amazing things. DNA fulfills both the roles that your cells require of genetic material. First, the DNA is accurately duplicated so that information can be passed on from cell to cell. Second, the DNA sequence tells the cell what proteins to make, thereby determining what the cell will become and what function it will serve. However, DNA does not carry out these processes on its own. Many specialized proteins are involved.

DNA alone cannot create life. It contains all the instructions needed to make all the proteins a living cell needs, including the very ones that copy DNA for the next cell generation and the ones that help DNA to make new proteins. Still, the incredible amount of information stored in the DNA genes is useless without RNA and the specialized proteins, which include ribosomes, needed to “read” and use that information.

Neither can proteins alone produce life. An isolated protein cannot generate the gene that has the code for making more of that same type of protein.

So, what has unraveling the mystery of life shown? Modern genetics and molecular biology have provided ample evidence of the highly complex and interdependent relationships between DNA, RNA, and protein. These findings imply that life depends on having all these elements simultaneously. Thus, life could never have come about spontaneously by chance.

The only reasonable explanation is that a supremely intelligent Creator coded the instructions in DNA and simultaneously made the fully formed proteins. The interaction between them was so well devised that once begun, this process would ensure that proteins would continue to copy DNA to make more genes, while other proteins would decode genes to make more proteins.

Clearly, the marvelous cycle of life was set in motion by the Master Designer, Jehovah God.

Wonderfully Made

Although it is not a scientific book, the Bible sheds some light on the role of the Creator, who designed the code of life. Some three thousand years ago, King David of Israel, who knew nothing of today’s advances in genetic research, said in poetic language to his Creator: “It was you who created my inmost self, and put me together in my mother’s womb; for all these mysteries I thank you: for the wonder of myself, for the wonder of your works. You know me through and through, from having watched my bones take shape when I was being formed in secret, knitted together in the limbo of the womb.”—Psalm 139:13-15, Jerusalem Bible.

So take another good, long look at yourself in the mirror. Note the color of your eyes, the texture of your hair, the shade of your complexion, and the basic shape of your body. Think of how these characteristics were inherited from generations past and how they are transferred to your offspring. Now, give some thought to the One who put in order this marvelous mechanism. You may be moved to repeat the words written by the apostle John: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”—Revelation 4:11.

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Blind Chance?

Recent findings of two British scientists confirm that the genetic code is not simply the product of random chance. “Their analysis has shown [the genetic code] to be among the best of more than a billion billion possible codes,” notes New Scientist magazine. Of the roughly 10²⁰ (1 followed by 20 zeros) possible genetic codes, only one was selected early in the history of life. Why this specific one? Because it minimizes errors made during the protein-making process or errors caused by genetic mutations. In other words, the specific code guarantees that laws of heredity are strictly followed. Although some ascribe the selection of this genetic code to “strong selective pressures,” the two researchers have concluded that “it is extremely unlikely that such an efficient code arose by chance.”