Left-Handed Amino Acids (Levo-Amino Acids)

The appropriate amino acids being arranged in the correct sequence is not sufficient to form a protein molecule in a living organism. In addition, each one of the 20 varieties of amino acid in a protein's structure must be left-handed.

In chemical terms, there are two different forms of any one amino acid; right-handed and left-handed. They differ in that their three-dimensional structures are mirror images of each another, just like the right and left hands on human beings.

Amino acids from either group can easily bind together with one another. However, research has revealed a most astonishing fact: The proteins in all living things, from the simplest to the most complex, are made up solely of left-handed amino acids. Even if just one right-handed amino acid is added to a protein's structure, that protein will become functionless.

In some experiments, bacteria have been given right-handed amino acids, but the bacteria have immediately broken down these amino acids-and in some cases, have reconstructed from these fragments left-handed amino acids that they can use.

Assume for a moment that life did come into existence by chance, as evolutionists maintain. If so, there should be equal amounts of right- and left-handed amino acids in nature, both being the results of chance. Therefore, there should be varying levels of right- and left-handed amino acids in the bodies of all living things, because chemically amino acids from either group can easily combine with one another.

The fact remains, however, that the proteins in living organisms consist solely of left-handed amino acids.

How do proteins select only left-handed amino acids? And why do no right-handed ones ever creep in? This is a question that evolutionists are unable to explain away, and cannot account for such a specialized, conscious selectivity.

The amino acids of all living organisms on Earth, and the building blocks of complex polymers such as proteins, all have the same left-handed asymmetry. This is tantamount to tossing a coin a million times and having it always come up heads. It is impossible to understand why molecules become left-handed or right-handed, and that this choice is fascinatingly related to the origin of life on Earth.

In conclusion, it is totally impossible to account for the origin of life in terms of coincidences: If we calculate the probability of an average-sized protein consisting of 400 amino acids being made up only of left-handed amino acids, we obtain a figure of 1 in 2⁴⁰⁰, or 1 in 10¹²⁰.

In order to grasp some idea about this astronomical figure, we can say that the total number of electrons in the universe is very much smaller than this, having been calculated at around 10⁷⁹. The chances of amino acids forming in the requisite sequence and functional form, give rise to a far larger number.

If we then add these probabilities and extend them to the formation of many more, and more varied proteins, then the calculations become truly unfathomable.