David S. Goodsell and RCSB PDB
In the media release, “Genetic code evolution and Darwin’s evolution theory” are advised to see DNA that way, with the note that “Survival of the fittest’ phenomenon is only part of the evolution equation”
“These revelations matter because they provide entirely new ways of analyzing the human genome and the genome of any living species, the blueprints of life,” said senior author Kenneth J. Breslauer, Linus C. Pauling Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. He is also affiliated with the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. “The origins of the evolution of the DNA genetic code and the evolution of all living species are embedded in the different energy profiles of their molecular DNA blueprints. Under the influence of the laws of thermodynamics, this energy code evolved, out of an astronomical number of alternative possibilities, into a nearly singular code across all living species.”
Scientists investigated this so-called “universal enigma,” probing the origins of the astounding observation that the genetic code evolved into a nearly uniform blueprint that arose from trillions of possibilities.
Rutgers University, “Genetic code evolution and Darwin’s evolution theory should consider DNA an ‘energy code’” at Eurekalert
But wait. Is it true that there were really trillions of possibilities? First, if it’s a code, as they say, we can test that. Let’s take another code – language. How about the English language; it’s handy.
Are there trillions of different ways we can arrange the letters and words recognized as elements of the English language, all of which are more or less meaningful? Not only is that not true but the more precise we need to be, the more constraints there are on what we can say.
A key characteristic of a code is that it has meaning. It corresponds to something. In the case of DNA, it corresponds to the development of an organism. If the blueprint is nearly uniform, that’s probably because it needs to be very precise. Which in turn implies that if the genetic code found the right formula within the life of the universe, some intention or intelligence must underlie it. Not that the researchers want to go there, of course.
The paper is open access.
Note: We are told, by the by, that “Survival of the fittest’ phenomenon is only part of the evolution equation” — It seems that classical, orthodox Darwinism continues its downward trajectory in popularity.