Creation Facts of Life Read Online Free PDF Page A

genetic
code
for making protein, but only the genetic
alphabet
. The "alphabet letters" of DNA (the four bases, abbreviated GCAT) are used in groups of three (triplet codons) as code names for the 20 different amino acids of proteins. But bases are equally spaced along DNA; there's nothing in the structure or chemistry that even hints why or which bases should be grouped as triplet codons. Three letter groupings are
not inherent
in base sequences; they are
imposed on
the base series by huge cellular particles called ribosomes.
    Ribosomes don't act directly on DNA, but on expendable "base pair copies" of DNA called messenger RNA, or mRNA. The production of mRNA, and of more DNA for reproduction, is magnificently profound, but it's a simple consequence of interlocking base shapes and ordinary chemical attraction (mediated by enzymes). The way ribosomes establish the genetic coding system, however, completely transcends the inherent properties of DNA bases.
    Ribosomes are "molecular machines" each consisting of about 50 specific proteins and three large RNA molecules. Its overall 3-D shape gives a ribosome two adjacent slots each precisely shaped to hold three and only three bases, thus establishing the triplet coding system. This coding system is not based on time, chance, and the properties of the bases, but on plan, purpose, and intelligent design. In the structure of the ribosome, however, as in the arrowhead, nothing supernatural, complex, or even unusual is involved, and the function of the ribosome is easy to understand and explain. In both the ribosome and the arrowhead, the evidence of creation is not in what we can't see and don't know; it's in the pattern of order ("exherent") that we do see and can explain: matter shaped and molded to accomplish the purpose of its Creator, not to satisfy inherent chemical properties.
    Besides the above, the ribosomes which establish the amino acid code names for making proteins are themselves made of 50 or more specific proteins. It takes specific proteins to establish the code for making specific proteins, so how did the system get started? Evolutionists admit that's a problem for them because they insist evolution based on time, chance, and the properties of matter is a blind process that can't plan ahead or work toward a goal. On the other hand, creationists see the goal-oriented function of ribosomes as another evidence of creation. Like batteries can be used to start car engines that then recharge the batteries, so proteins can be used to code for the production of proteins that can then "recharge" the coding proteins.
    And there's more. Even after ribosomes establish triplet codon names for amino acids, the protein building blocks have no chemical way to recognize their code names! All sorts of wrong chemical reactions between amino acids and base triplets are possible, but these would destroy the code. It falls to transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules to pick up amino acids and base pair them with their codons on the ribosome slots. The base pairing of tRNA and mRNA triplets is based on interlocking shapes and ordinary chemical attraction, but the proper pairing of tRNAs with amino acids requires much more than ordinary chemistry.
    When it comes to "translating" DNA's instructions for making proteins, the real "heroes" are the activating enzymes that unite specific tRNA/amino acid pairs. Enzymes are proteins with special slots for selecting and holding other molecules for speedy reaction. As shown in Figure 5 (circle 3), each activating enzyme has five slots: two for chemical coupling
(c, d),
one for energy (ATP), and, most importantly, two to establish a
non-chemical
three-base "code name" for each different amino acid R-group
(a, b).
You may find that awe-inspiring, and so do my cell biology students!
    The living cell requires at least 20 of these activating enzymes I call "translases," one for each of the specific R-group/code name (amino acid/tRNA
)
pairs. Even so, the whole set of