The Translation From DNA's Four Letters into a 20-Letter Protein

As you saw in earlier sections of this book, the data bank inside the DNA has been encoded in the form of four chemical bases represented by the letters A, T, G and C. But for this 4-letter DNA language to be used, it must be translated into a 20-letter protein language. The information in DNA becomes meaningful for proteins only as a result of this translation process. The well-known chemist Prof. Wilder Smith notes the difficult nature of a system able to translate between these two languages:

Translation of information from one language into another constitutes one of the most difficult tasks which can be presented to a computer. The computer must be fed very carefully with extensive and highly complicated programs, if it is to carry out the translation satisfactorily. Americans have spent millions of dollars in the attempt to obtain machine translations from Russian into English automatically from computers. After more than twenty years of work, there still exists no machine which is capable of independently translating idiomatic Russian into idiomatic English without being constantly checked by a good interpreter who continually supervises the machine's work. The mechanized translation of idioms from one language to another is so difficult that preprogramming of the machine seldom suffices.71

The Variety Arising from Four "Letters" is a Miracle of Creation

1. Methionine (Amino Acid)
2. tRNA
3. Anti-codon
4. mRNA
5. tRNA breaks away.

6. A peptide bond forms.
7. Proline (Amino Acid))
8. The ribosome moves directly towards the next threesome.
9. A second peptide bond forms.

10. Cysteine (Amino Acid)
11. The ribosome moves on.
12. A third peptide bond forms.
13. Arginine (Amino Acid)

he DNA molecule, found in every one of the 100 trillion cells in the body, contains a flawless blueprint for that body. The information for all your characteristics, from your external appearance to the structure of their internal organs, is recorded by means of a special coding system, through the arrangement of the four molecules making up the DNA molecule -a kind of data bank consisting of a four- letter alphabet. These special molecules, known as nucleotides (or bases), are referred to by their initial letters, A, T, C and G. All structural differences between human beings arise from the differences in the sequences of these letters.

This diagram shows the nucleic acids comprising the RNA codes and represented by the four letters A, C, G and U, converted into the 20-letter protein alphabet. By attaching themselves to one another, amino acids arranged as the information in transporter RNA form a protein essential for the cell ...

As this extract shows, complete and accurate translation between two languages does not appear possible by means of a technical program. In fact, however, the way that DNA language is translated into the protein language is pre-programmed in DNA, so that this system functions in a flawless manner in every cell in the billions of human beings. The Canadian science writer Denyse O'Leary refers to the communication difficulty to be expected between a four-letter gene language and a 20-letter protein one:

Here is what we know about the human genome: Our genes work together in complex combinations, talking to each other constantly as they direct the building of a bewildering variety of proteins, the machines that carry out the operations in each cell that keep us alive. The really tough part is that, instead of having only four building blocks, as genes do, proteins have 20.72

Despite this apparent difficulty, however, the coded descriptions written in the DNA language is read properly, translated and used in all the living things on Earth. This intelligence manifested inside the cell belongs to our Almighty Lord, the Lord and Sovereign of all things, Who has created and continues to create living things through His mercy. This is revealed in the Qur'an:

Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High. He Who created and molded. (Surat al-A'la, 1-2)

From what thing did He create him? From a drop of sperm He created him and proportioned him. (Surah 'Abasa, 18-19)

66. David S. Goodsell, Our Molecular Nature, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1996, p. 36.

67. Denyse O'Leary, By Design or By Chance?, Castle Ovay Books, Kanada, 2004, p 173.

68. A. E. Wilder-Smith, The Natural Sciences: Know Nothing of Evolution, T. W. F. T. Publishers, ABD, pp. 78-79.

69. Richard Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, Park Street Press Rochester, ABD, 1992, p. 170.

70. M. Eden, "Inadequacies of Neo-Darwinian Evolution as a Scientific Theory," Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution, Wistar Institute Press, Philadelphia, 1967, p. 11.

71. A. E. Wilder-Smith, The Natural Sciences: Know Nothing of Evolution, p. 97.

72. Denyse O'Leary, By Design or By Chance?, p. 55.