Over last weekend I finished reading THe Fifth Miracle by Paul Davies. It
is a fascinating, popular level account of the search for the origin of
life. He reports some fascinating information about RNA research which
comes very close to creating life in the testtube. I will quote him at length.
"The Qb virus doesn't need anything as complicated as a cell in order to
replicate: a test tube full of suitable chemicals is enough. The
experiment, conducted by Sol Spiegelman of the University of Illinois,
consisted of introducing the viral RNA into a medium containing the RNA's
own replication enzyme, plus a supply of raw materials and some salts, and
incubating the mixture. When Spiegelman did this, the system obligingly
replicated the strands of naked RNA. Spiegelman then extracted some of the
freshly synthesized RNA, put it in a separate nutrient solution, and let it
multiply. He then decanted some of that RNA into yet another solution, and
so on, in a series of steps.
"The effect of allowing unrestricted replication was that the RNA that
multiplied fastest won out, and got passed on to the 'next generation' in
the series. The decanting operation therefore replaced, in a highly
accelerated way, the basic competition process of Darwinian evolution,
acting directly on the RNA. In this respect it resembled an RNA world.
"Spiegelman's results were spectacular. As anticipated, copying errors
occurred during replication. Relieved of the responsibility of working for
a living and the need to manufacture protein coats, the spoon-fed RNA
strands began to slim down, shedding parts of the genome that were no
longer required and merely proved to be an encumbrance. The RNA molecules
that could replicate the fastest simply out-multiplied the competition.
After seventy-four generations, what started out as an RNA strand with
4,500 nucleotide bases ended up as a dwarf genome with only 220 bases. This
raw replicator with no frills attached could replicate very fast. It was
dubbed Spiegelman's monster.
"Incredible though Spiegelman's results were, an even bigger surprise lay
in store. In 1974, Manfred Eigen and his colleagues also experimented with
a chemical broth containing Qb replication enzyme and salts, and an
energized form of the four bases that make up the building blocks of RNA.
They tried varying the quantity of viral RNA initially added to the
mixture. As the amount of input RNA was progressively reduced, the
experimenters found that, with little competition, it enjoyed untrammeled
exponential growth. Even a single RNA molecule added to the broth was
enough to trigger a population explosion. But then something truly amazing
was discovered. Replicating strands of RNA were still produced even when
not a single molecule of viral RNA was added! To return to my architectural
analogy, it was rather like throwing a pile of bricks into a giant mixer
and producing, if not a house, then at least a garage. At first Eigen found
the results hard to believe, and checked to see whether accidental
contamination had occurred. Soon the experimenters convinced themselves
that they were witnessing for the first time the spontaneous synthesis of
RNA strands form their basic building blocks. Analysis revealed that under
some experimental conditions the created RNA resembled Spiegelman's
monster." Paul Davies, The Fifth Miracle, (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1999), p.127-128
He also notes that protein has been observed to self-reproduce:
"Can proteins replicate unaided? Recently, Reza Ghadiri of the Scripps
Institute in San Diego discovered that some small peptide chains can indeed
self-replicate. Moreover, they can apparently correct replication errors
'as if they had a mind of their own.' Another clue comes form the infamous
mad-cow disease, or BSE, which has decimated British cattle stocks. Like
scrapie and kuru, BSE is caused not by a bacterium or a virus, but by a
fragment of protein that can replicate and spread. Might such fragments be
surviving relics of a primitive life form based solely on proteins?" Paul
Davies, The Fifth Miracle, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999), p. 133
Christians who are basing a big part of their theology on the supposed
inability of science to create life are likely making a big mistake. We
should be preparing Christians for the real possibility that within the
next century, science will create artificial life.
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
Lots of information on creation/evolution
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