Missives

Evolution imagines a scenario where all ten previous Steps To Life occurred in a primordial creature whose simple life is based on RNA, a molecule that holds genetic data and performs chemical reactions. However, this is just an imaginary idea because no known life operates only with RNA. In real life, DNA stores a lot more information, and proteins carry out complex tasks. The problem for evolution is that RNA, DNA and proteins  mutually depend on each other. Let’s illustrate this using four examples about cellular duties and data.

First we ask: how well can RNA do work alone? Recall that evolution needs short strands of RNA to kick-start life (because smaller strands replicate quickly). While RNA can do some tasks, it's not as versatile as proteins. Recent studies on the minimal requirements for life have shown that a cell needs at least 493 genes to reproduce and function properly – more than the 135 desired by scientists for their primordial RNA. This means RNA alone is not enough to perform all the necessary tasks of a living cell.

Second, how versatile is RNA’s data storage? Let’s imagine that the sequence “AGUCUCGAAA” codes for a ribosome which bonds two molecules. Could this code work to also make a protein which does the same thing? No it can’t; it needs new code (found in DNA), and new tools to decode and build it (such as proteins).  This is a big challenge to evolution, since all of RNA’s accumulated information is a dead end without DNA’s database and pre-existing proteins.

Third, even if the code from RNA molecules somehow converted into DNA, it still wouldn't be enough for life to exist. DNA isn’t useful unless it can be copied, the information decoded, then tools built some stuff out of it. Frankly, it couldn’t do the very first step – copying.

Why, you may ask? Replicating DNA in cells is a complex process, requiring the coordination of many proteins and 14+ enzymes (tiny tools). In E. Coli, an important protein known as Topoisomerase IV (TIV) has the job to separate the duplicated DNA strands. As seen below, DNA is highly compacted inside a cell, spreading far past the cell membrane if unraveled and laid flat. Without TIV, you can’t copy DNA– there’s no room to keep it from getting tangled!

Fourth, decoding the information in DNA to produce proteins involves the steps of transcription and translation. Transcription converts DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA), and translation uses ribosomes to turn mRNA into proteins. These two processes require the precise coordination of different machines. The challenge here is that the molecular machines needed for these processes are coded in DNA.  Starting life only with DNA (or RNA) is like a DVD disc with a movie on how to build a DVD player and how to read the disc using lasers.

In summary, evolution’s transition from an RNA-based system to the DNA- and protein-based system we see in life today is utterly impossible. RNA alone can’t do enough work nor store enough data. Dr. Change L. Tan summarizes that “DNA cannot be replicated without [replication] proteins, the replication proteins cannot be produced without the DNA, and evolution cannot occur without replication.” God made all of life dependent on many things.  Man was created to be a dependent creature; our ultimate dependency is on our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality. Jesus alone is self-sufficient, the only wise God, upholding all things by the word of His power.

Source: Dr. Change Laura Tan and Rob Stadler, The Stairway To Life: An Origin-of-Life Reality Check, Evorevo Books, 2020, chapter 17. Photo of E.Coli, pg. 170.